F129 
.S3R4 














^^'% 



• c-cv^-.v'^- O 





The Paik at Congiess bpriuj 



MI L L E R'S 

GUIDE 

TO 

SAEATOGA SPRINGS 

AND VICINITY. 



JltustratM, 



1SG7 



BY 

T. ADDISON RICHARDS. 



^^ KEW YORK : 

PUBLISHED BY JAMES MILLER, 
522 BROADWAY. 

1867. 



^\A 



c,-? 



^^ 



Entered according to act of Congress, in tlie year 1867, 

Bt JAMES MILLER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 



Little, Rennie & Co., 

PRrNTERS AND STEREOTrPERS, 
430 BROOME BTREST, N. T. 



OOIiTTEETS. 



PAGE 

Topography 9 

History 11 

Routes to Saratoga 1*7 

Nomenclature 20 

Hotels 21 

Union Hotel . . . . , 23 

The OW and New Congress Hall 24 

The Clarendon Hotel 25 

Temple Grove Hotel 26 

The American Hotel 26 

The Manrin House 26 

The Columbian Hotel 26 

The Old United States Hotel 27 

The Water Cures 27 

The Saratoga Hop 28 

The Leland Opera House 31 

The Mineral Waters 33 

The Congress Spring 35 

The High Rock Spring 37 

The Empire Spring 41 



b CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

The Columbian Spring 43 

The Washington Spring 44 

The Pavilion Spring 45 

The Hamilton Spring 47 

The Putnam Spring 48 

The Star Spring .' 49 

The Excelsior Spring 50 

The "A" Spring 51 

The Ten Springs 51 

The EUis Spring 51 

Reed's Spring 52 

The White Sulphur Spring 52 

The Indian Encampment 53 

The Railway Station 54 

Broadway 55 

The Park 57 

The Churches 58 

Country-Seats 59 

The Saratoga Races 60 

Saratoga Lake 63 

The Cemetery 65 

Wagman's Hill 67 

Chapman's HUl 68 

Barhydt's Lake 69 

Lake Lovely 69 

SchuylervUle 70 

Ballston Springs 71 

Luzerne 72 



CONTENTS. . Y 

PAGE 

Styles' Hill "^S 

Waring Hill 74 

Haggerty Hill T4 

Corinth Falls T5 

The Saratoga Battle-Ground 76 

Baker's Falls 80 

Glen's Falls 80 

Lake George — , 82 

Dome Island 84 

Bolton 84 

The Tongue Mountain 85 

Shelving Eock 85 

The Narrows 85 

The Black Mountain v 86 

Sabhath-Day Point 87 

Prisoners' Island 88 

Ticonderoga 89 



SARATOGA 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



The little village of Saratoga, where dwells the benign 
goddess Hygeia in the midst of her far-famed waters of 
life and health, is most pleasantly hidden within the heart 
of a broad stretch of varied table-land, in the upper part 
and near the eastern boundaiy of the great State of New 
York. The location is not remarkable for natural beauty, 
yet its immediate surroundings are by no means without 
attractions, while within easy reach, all about, may be 
found many of those beautiful landscape scenes for which 
the Empire State is so justly renowned. 

The village, while most agreeably secluded from, is yet 
within the easiest and speediest reach of the busy world 
around. It is large enough to boast of a fixed population 
of some seven thousand, which may be trebled in summer- 
time by foreign incursion ; and it possesses in abundance 
all the many ways and means of convenient and pleasur- 
able life, in a liberal furniture of churches, schools, stores, 



10 SAEATOGA, 

shops, and all other appointments of home and social ease 
and comfort ; with all of which it still retains that quiet 
countiy aspect, so grateful always to the eye and heart of 
the wearied format escaping from the galleys of Fashion 
and of Trade, and seeking the recuperating quiet and repose 
of country life. Even the most thronged portions of the 
village, where stand the great summer hotels, the flaring 
emporiums of the city modes, and all the transient glare 
and glitter of congregated fashion, are gratefully tempered 
by the screening and cooling shade of verdant trees : 
while reaching far around this more busy region, stretch 
long avenues of picturesque cottages, interspersed agree- 
ably with more stately villas and manorial homes. 

It is a healthful region, within the reach and influence 
of mountain airs, and is desirable, in this respect, as a 
summer abode, even apart from the great resom-ce in its 
exhaustless mineral fountains. Pleasant roads also lead 
outward in all directions to still pleasanter resorts, as we 
shall see in other divisions of our story — roads not so fault- 
less to be sure as the well-graded and hardened di-ives of 
the Central Park ; for the soil is sandy, and has, at best, its 
ups and downs : as, indeed, country roads should have, to 
maintain their proper rural spirit. It may be all veiy well 
for the professional tourist to reach the summit of Mount 
Washington or the icy crest of Mont Blanc by the time- 
table and the rail ; but where in that case is the old 
traditional and natural romance and adventm'e of countiy 
life and travel ? In the near neighborhood of Saratoga are 
the upper waters of the beautiful Hudson, yet fresh and 
bright from their mountain cradles, not far away. Hard 
by, in another direction, flows the gentle Mohawk, through 



SAEATOGA. 11 

placid and fniitful meadows and plains. Many other pic- 
turesque streams dance amidst tlie region, and numerous 
sweet lakes and lakelets lie around. Within the range of 
a pleasant excursion are the great waters of Champlain, 
and equally accessible are the smaller but more lovely 
floods of Lake George, while yet beyond stretches the 
great wilderness of the Adirondack, with its w^eird lakes 
and its rock-ribbed hills, — to this day, a terra incognita, 
scarcely invaded by human habitation, and abounding in 
all its ancient stores of game, in beast, and bird, and fish, 
from the wary trout to the lordly moose — profuse even to 
the disgust of the scientific Walton or Nimrod, who needs 
the intervention of difliculty to give zest to his sport. 

With so many, so varied, and so pleasant surroundings, 
the summer resident at Saratoga will be at no loss, when 
the dust of fashion gathers too thickly about him, to shake 
it off* at intervals, in more quiet and secluded haunts : 
returning from a day's, or even a few hours' excursion, 
with renewed life and invigorated spirits. 



HISTORY. 

There is veiy little doubt that the mineral waters of 
Saratoga were well known to the aboriginal inhabitants, 
long before they were visited by the white men, and that 
they employed them as remedial agents, with the same 
intuition which they have ever displayed in their discern- 
ment of the virtues of the herbs and trees of their native 
wilds. To be sure they subjected the brooks to no scientific 
analysis, and knew nothing of a sodand sodium, of lime, 



12 SARATOGA. 

or magnesia, of hydrogen or oxygen, or of the thousand 
and one unpronounceable diseases to which the waters 
gave relief: but they nevertheless always adapted the cure 
to the complaint as effectually as the most learned Escu- 
lapius of our own wise age. We may imagine the unctuous 
" ugh " of content or of disgust, — according to taste, — with 
which some antediluvian " Hole-in-the-Day " bent down in 
the primeval woods, and, pushing aside the weeds and 
snakes, won an appetite for breakfast from the stimulus 
of the bubbling brook. The scene must have been more 
picturesque, though maj^-be less comfortable, than that 
now presented of the beaux and belles daintily touching 
the crystal goblet with gloved fingers, or guarding their 
silken robes, as they diink, from the dampness of the tes- 
sellated marble floors.* 

The Springs fii-st became known to the European set- 
tlers in the latter part of the last century, when they were 
visited by Sir William Johnson, then in the service of the 
British government. This was in the year 1767. Sir 
William, who held at that period a major-general's com- 
mission under his majesty George III., had two years 
before defeated the French forces under the Baron Dies- 
kau, at the battle of Lake George. In this engagement 
he received a severe wound, from which, at inteiTals, he 
was ever afterwards a great sufferer. It was to alleviate 
the pain of these attacks that he followed the counsels 
of some friendly Mohawks, and detemiined to visit the 
Springs. His worthy name was thus that of the first Euro- 



* The author, in the " Kuickerbocker Magazine," October, 1859. 



SARATOGA. 13 

pean ever entered upon the visitors' record at Saratoga. 
Of course he did not travel by rail, as we do to-day, or by 
post, as did our great-grandmothers, but through the bush 
and brake of the wild Indian trail, as best he could ; neither 
did he find shelter under the broad and hospitable roof of 
any Union or Congress Hall, but rested his weary limbs 
beneath the shelter of his simple forest tent only. Unhap- 
pily, he did not benefit himself by his visit so much as he 
did the thousands who have since followed his valuable 
guidance. 

In Mr. Wilham L. Stone's admirable "Life and Times 
of Sir William Johnson " we are told the valiant baronet, 
*' accompanied by his Indian guides, set out on his journey 
on the 22d of August, and, passing down the Mohawk in 
a boat, soon reached Schenectady. At this place, being too 
feeble either to walk or ride, he was placed on a litter and 
borne upon the stalwart shoulders of his Indian attendants 
through the woods to Ballston Lake. Tariying overnight 
at the log-cabin of Michael McDonald, an Irishman who 
had recently begun a clearing on the shores of the lake, the 
party plunged again into the forest, and following the 
trail of Indian hunters, along the shores of Lake Saratoga 
and its chief tributary, the Kayaderosscras, reached their 
destination." 

The particular spring of which Sir William drank, was 
that very remarkable one now known among the numer- 
ous group as the High Rock ; and which must therefore 
receive the honors of, and be duly respected as the vener- 
able father of this mighty family of magic waters. 

The period of Su* William's visit to the High Rock, it 
will be seen, was that of the famous war in this region 
2 



14 SAEATOGA. 

between the French in Canada and the English below the 
St. Lawrence, and their Indian allies on either side. Forts 
had been erected, and settlements made at various points 
through the region, as far north as Lake George, but the 
troublous state of the country forbade any veiy rapid or 
permanent colonization, until the tomahawk was finally 
buried and the pipe of peace was smoked. 

It was not rmtil the year 1773, six years after Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson's initial visit, that the first clearing was made 
and the first cabin erected at the Springs. The hardy 
adventurer who accomplished this brave feat was Derick 
Scowton. He commenced business in the double capacity 
of hotel-keeper and Indian trader. Unluckily, matters did 
not thrive between bold Derick and his red neighbors, who 
made his new home so unpleasantly hot that he found it 
wise to abdicate, leading his hotel incomplete. 

Derick was followed a year later, and with better suc- 
cess, by George Arnold, an adventurer from Rhode Island. 
Arnold took possession of the vacated Scowton House, and 
" ran " it, as we say at this day, with tdlerable success, for 
about two years. How many daily arrivals he had is not 
upon the record, neither does history enlighten us in respect 
to his bill of fare, or his per diem. Still, it is clear that 
neither one nor the other in any way approached the 
Leland " ideas " of our day. 

The third Saratoga landlord was one Samuel Norton, 
who squatted on the Scowton estate soon after the exit 
of George Aniold. Norton made various improvements, 
clearing and cultivating the land around him. He might 
have made a " good thing " of his enterprise, but, as ill- 
luck would have it, the first mutterings of the great storm of 



SAEATOGA. 15 

the Revolution just then began to greet his terrified ears^, 
causing him to decamp, and thus leave the Hotel Scowtoni 
again without a landlord. Norton was at length,, in the- 
year 1783, succeeded by his son, who, takihg possession of 
the old property, still further improved it, until 1787,. whert 
he sold out to Gideon Morgan, who in his turn and within 
the same year made it over to Alexander Biyan.. 

Bryan became the first permanent settler at the Spiings 
after the close of the war. He enriched the estate with a 
blacksmith's shop and an additional log-house.. 

The days of the Scowtons, the Arnolds, the ISTortons,. 
the Morgans, and the Bryans. were the primitive days of 
very small things ; indeed the first or exploratoiy epoch 
in the settlement of the spring. regix)n. They were followed 
in 1789 by a new and more brilliant era, under the reign 
of the Putnams — an era and reign which steadily advanced 
from that hour, and has continued, ever expanding, down 
to our own days of full fruition. 

Gideon Putnam is deservedly remembered as the father, 
of Saratoga, by virtue of the many and. varied contribu- 
tions which he made to the growth and prosperity of the 
village, from his first settlement in it, in his early youth,, to 
his death, twenty-three years later. He was a Massachu- 
setts man, who set out in quest of fortune in the sphit of 
indomitable energy which he never afterwards failed to- 
display in all his many undertakings. 

He reached Saratoga, or rather the site of the present vil- 
lage — for the region was then still a wilderaess in the year 
1789. Before reaching this his pemianent and final abode,, 
as it afterwards proved to be, he wandered far through, 
the wilderness, making various unsatisfactory attempts to 



16 SARATOGA. 

^enshrine his household gods. He fii*st pitched Ws tent 
and built a hut in Vermont, on the spot now occupied by 
Middlebuiy, Later he established himself in Rutland. 
From Rutland he moved on to the "Five Nations," or 
*' Bemis Flats ; " and from thence he made his final journey 
to the forest land, now traversed by the streets of Saratoga. 
The first occupation of the hardy pioneer in his new home 
was of course to erect a cabin to shelter himself and his 
family, for the locality boasted no furnished houses to let 
at that period. He next leased some three hundi'ed acres 
of land, which he set about clearing and cultivating. Soon 
after he erected a mill, by means of which he sawed lum- 
ber, which he sold in New York — realizing from it the 
means of gtill further advancing his improvements at home. 
Step by step he laid the foundations of his village, and step 
by step saw it grow and thrive, until in the year 1802, only 
thirteen years after his first sight of the spot as a wilder- 
ness, he commenced the erection of the building since so 
familiarly known as " Union Hall," and now one of the 
most spacious and popular hotels in the land. 

It .is -said that Putnam's ambition, from early youth, 
was to build himself a "great house;" and though that 
portion of the Union Hotel which he erected — some seventy 
feet in extent — was but a small part of the present edifice, 
still it was a mammoth stracture for its day and location. 
Putnam afterwards commenced the buildiug of that other 
spacious structure opposite the Union, the late Congress 
Hall. While the masons were at work on the piazza of 
the Congress, he was walking upon the scafiblding, which 
gave way, and precipitated him and others on to the rocka 
and timbers beneath, breaking some of his ribs and other- 



SARATOGA. . 17 

"wise so injuring him that lie never fully recoyei'ed from 
the effects. 

It is to the enterprise and industry of this hardy founder 
that Saratoga is indebted, more than to all others put to- 
gether, not only for her general improvement at this stage 
of her histoiy, but for the development and utilization of 
her mineral waters. One after the other, he excavated and 
tubed the principal fountains, and put them in that condi- 
tion which has in due time won for them their world-wide 
renown. He died on the first day of December, 1812, and 
was the first person buried in the cemetery which he had 
himself presented to the village. 

The famous hotel of Union Hall, erected by Gideon 
Putnam, was conducted by himself and his descendants, 
almost to the present day. The period of its history — from 
the early time when it displayed the sign of " Put and the 
Wolf," to the recent day when it passed out of the conduct 
of the family, and had grown too stately to bear any sign 
at all — is the period of the growth and maturity of the 
village and its present enviable fame. The further histoiy 
of Saratoga may be better read in our proposed glance at 
the various scenes and objects of interest, as we may meet 
with them in our rambles over the village and its viciaage. 



ROUTES TO SARATOGA. 

Sir "William Johnson, the first white visitor at Saratoga, 

had, as we have already said in our brief historical chapter, 

considerable difficulty in finding his tedious way thither, 

through forest and dell, with no better guidance than a 

2* 



18 SAEATOGA. 

blind Indian trail. Happily for us, tlie roads have been 
somewhat improved within the hundi'ed years that have 
gone by since the valiant baronet made his fashionable 
tour. 

Now-a-days, instead of blazing the forest-trees as we go, 
we blaze along, thirty miles per horn*, upon the endless, 
irresistible rail, and in the interval between breakfast and 
dinner reach our destination from points hundreds of miles 
removed. Our journey, too, from whatever du-ection, may 
be as pleasant as it will be speedy, cai-rying us, as it 
will, through some of the most pictm'esque scenery in the 
land. 

From New York we reach Saratoga via the charming 
passage of the lordly Hudson, which we may follow by 
rail along its banks or on the decks of one or other of the 
sumptuous steamers which ply the broad waters by day 
and by night. The hours of travel in this direction will 
fly fast enough, in the contemplation of the varied and 
sti-iking scenes which will arrest the eye at eveiy step — 
the rugged flanks of the Palisade, the great Tappan Sea, the 
cliffs and crags of the Highlands at West Point, the beau- 
tiful Bay of Newburgh, the long ranges of the Catskills, 
and the endless succession of cities, towms, and villas which 
everywhere bedeck the shores. Rightly to enjoy this part 
of the trip, the tourist should provide himself with Miller's 
" Illustrated Guide to the Hudson," recently published in 
a style uniform with our present volume. 

On reaching Albany or Troy, the tourist will continue 
and complete his journey by rail. The whole distance from 
New York to the Springs is about two hundi'ed miles, the 
time six hom's, and the fare about three dollars and a half. 



SARATOGA. 19 

The readiest route is by Troy, where the change from one 
railway to another is made without trouble in the same 
depot. The crossing of the river at Albany involves some 
care, and, perchance, confusion to the uninitiated. 

Before this volume is published it is most likely that 
the new railway route, via Athens, on the Hudson, will be 
opened. This will be a better way from New York to 
the Springs than any other. Passengei*s may leave the 
Metropolis in the night-boats, and landing at Athens, some 
thu'ty miles below Albany, take the cars, and be at Sara- 
toga in good season for breakfast. 

From Boston the route is direct, two hundred miles, via 
the Western Railway to Albany, and thence as from New 
York. The journey, though rather long for one day's 
work, is an interesting one. It leads through the entire 
length of Massachusetts, calling at Wooster and Spiingfield 
and Pittsfield, and traversing much of the beautiful moun- 
tain region in the northwestern part of the old Bay State. 
Taken in instalments it would be pleasant enough ; but 
the old saying, " too much of a good thing," etc., is always 
painfully verified in railway travel, no matter how pic- 
turesque may be the region through which one is passing. 

Another and perhaps better route from Boston, is via, 
Fitchburg and Bellows Falls. 

From Buffalo and the West, Saratoga is quickly reached, 
by the route of the Central Railrc-ad to Schenectady, and 
thence via Ballston Springs. It 's a pleasant though a 
long journey, and affords a peep at many important cities 
and towns and at much picturesque landscape. 

From Montreal and other northern points, the traveller 
may reach the Springs via Lake Champlain to Whitehall,, 



20 SARATOGA. 

and thence by rail ; or he may leave the lake at Burling- 
ton, and make the rest of his way by the Vermont rail- 
roads. 

NOMENCLATURE. 

Saratoga is an Indian word of the dialect of the Iroquois. 
The inflection oga at the end is said to mean place, while 
the Sa-ra, or, as it is otherwise written, 8ar-at, and again 
8ar-agh, is supposed to be equivalent to salt, — making the 
original designation, Saraghtoga, to mean the place of salt 
spiings. Again, it is by other Indian scholars supposed 
that Saragh means heri'ings — and thus the Tfvhole word, 
"the place where herrings are caught;" referring to the 
shoals of that fish which foi-merly made their way up the 
Hudson and through Fish Creek into Saratoga Lake. 

The writings of the early French explorei-s in the 
" Jesuit Relations " seem to point definitely to the latter 
interpretation in preference to the former. The whole 
question, however, is so obscure as to make it scarcely 
worth consideration, except as a matter of curious specu- 
lation, for the employment of the idle hours of some 
ennuied visitor, or for the mystification of the nascent intel- 
lects of some youthful debating club. Should the Jesuit 
interpretation be the tiTie one, it would seem that the 
dignity of godfather belongs to the lake in its relation to 
the Adllage, instead of, as it is generally supposed, to the 
village in respect to the lake. 



SARATOGA. 21 



HOTELS. 

From the time when the old pioneer, Gideon Putnam, 
built the first seventy feet of the present Union Hotel in 
the year 1802, Saratoga has been amply furnished with 
accommodations for man and beast. The late Congress 
Hall, which stood opposite Putnam's " Great House," 
almost rivalling it in extent, was commenced in 1811 ; also 
under the dii-ection of the worthy founder of the village. 
It was opened to the public in 1815, and was destroyed by 
fire in 1866. The third of the grand hotels of Saratoga, the 
late United States, was commenced by John Ford in 1833, 
and extended in 1825. It afterwards passed into the hands 
of Marvin & Co., under whose management it gained the 
reputation of being one of the most excellent and most 
fashionable, as it was one of the most capacious establish- 
ments of the kind in the country. It was unfortunately 
burned to the ground in the summer of 1864. 

This trio of grand hotels, the Union, the Congress, and 
the United States, became famous all the country through, 
and for many years continued to divide between them the 
patronage of the ever-increasing throngs of visitors to the 
Springs, and year by year they added new lam-els to the 
reputation of the village as a place of convenient and pleas- 
ant resort. 

Many other smaller, though scarcely less excellent 
establishments have grown up, from time to time, and 
have been well sustained, in the manner and degree of 
their respective characters and capacities. " 

Since the destruction of the old buildings of the United 



22 



SAKATOGA. 



States Hotel, and more recently of the Congress and tlie 
Columbian, the pubhc accommodations of Saratoga, though 
still sufficient on a pinch, are of course not so ample as 
they were, and as they soon will be again. 




PIAZZA SCENE AT UNION HOTEL. 



For the present the traveller may make himself at home 
in the almost limitless halls of the Union, or within the 




Uniou Hotel. 



SARATOGA. 23 

narrower, yet still ample boundaries of other hostelries, 
which will be introduced to his notice in the following 
glance at the various establishments. 

tmiON HOTEL. 

Union Hotel, at present the largest and most fashion- 
able hotel in the land, was the first considerable house of 
the kind erected in the village. It was commenced in the 
year 1802, while the place was still only a wild forest 
region, by Gideon Putnam, one of the earliest settlers and 
founders. At this time the edifice was about seventy feet 
in length. It has at diff"erent periods been rebuilt and 
enlarged, until it now covers, with its buildings, cottages, 
and courts, the broad area of seven acres. The main edi- 
fices have a front of five hundred and fifty feet and a 
depth of seven hundred feet, with almost a mile of colonnade 
and piazza. The entu'e accommodation of the place is 
sufficient for the comfort of fifteen hundred guests. The 
noble dining-hall of the Union, which has been added by 
the present proprietors, is probably the largest in the 
United States. It is two hundred and fifty feet long, fifty- 
three feet wide, and twenty feet high, and will comfortably 
seat twelve hundred people. 

The Union came under the management of Major 
W. W. Leland, of the Metropolitan Hotel in New York, 
in the summer of 1864, when the close of the war released 
him from his duties as chief commissary of the Army of 
the Tennessee. With his characteristic enterprise, the new 
host set vigorously to work to enlarge and improve the 
premises, which he has done and is still doing in such 



24 SARATOGA. 

SI manner that there will soon be nothing left to do ; and 
the gallant Major, like his predecessor, Alexander, may 
perchance yet be found weeping on the piazza of his hotel, 
because he can find no more difficulties to overcome. 
Even now the wide domain of the hotel is too limited in 
sphere for his expansive heart and genius, and, like his 
prototype, old Gideon Putnam, he is making the village 
itself the scene of his far-seeing enterprise and energy, 
and among other public works, has bestowed upon the 
place an opera-house, which in extent and appointments 
is not unworthy of a metropolitan location. Just now, too, 
he is pushing forward that excellent work, the new " Broad 
Avenue," fi-om the springs to the lake, which, when com- 
pleted, will be one of the most inviting drives in the world. 
May he long live to devise and execute many other schemes 
for the pleasure and glory of the place. 

THE OLD AND NEW CONGRESS HALL. 

This spacious edifice was commenced by Gideon Put- 
nam, in tlie year 1811. In 1814 the property was purchased 
by Grandus Van Schoonhoven, who completed the build- 
ings the following year, in accordance with the designs of 
Mr. Putnam. 

Mr. Van Schoonhoven conducted the establishment 
until 1822, at which time he was joined by his nephew, 
Samuel H. Drake, and in 1823 by other partners. From 
1823 to 1855 the house was leased from time to time to 
different parties, after which it fell under the administration 
of Messrs. Hawthorne & Hall. These gentlemen extended 
and greatly improved the property. They added a brick 




The Old Congress Hall. 



SABATOGA. 25 

wing, which at its eastern end was six stories high, and 
extended from the older portion on the south side of Bath 
Street to Putnam Street. Many of the rooms also were at 
this time improved, and the whole house was refurnished 
in modern style. In 1857 Richard McMichael succeeded 
Mr. Hall in the firm, when further important additions 
were made. The house extended three hundred and 
seventy-nine feet on Broadway, and east on Bath Street to 
the west line of Putnam Street. The location is one of the 
most eligible and most convenient in the village, being in 
immediate proximity to the Congress Spring and its 
beautiful Park. The entire edifice was burnt to the ground 
in the summer of 1866. 

The new and yet more extensive structure which is to 
take the place of the old building, and which is to be in 
part completed for the season of 1867, is of brick, with 
a facade of four hundred feet. 

THE CLARENDON HOTEL. 

The Clarendon is most agreeably situated on Broadway, 
embowered in a shady grove. Its outward presentment is 
very agreeable, while its inward appointments fulfil all the 
requirements of a first-class house. It ranks in all respects, 
except in size and the prestige of age and long service, with 
the Union and the Congress. It will accommodate some 
four hundred guests, perhaps. It possesses the consider- 
able advantage of including within its grounds the popular 
fountain known as the "Washington Spring. 



26 SAEATOGA. 



TEMPLE GROVE HOTEL. 

This excellent house, on Lincoln Avenue, stands in the 
shade of a fine maple and oak grove, upon an elevated 
site, which agreeably overlooks the village and its vicinage. 
It is a pleasant place, especially for families making a long 
sojourn at the Springs, and liking a quieter life than is to 
be found in the larger and more crowded houses. 

In the winter season Temple Grove is favorably known 
as a Young Ladies' Seminaiy, under the charge of the 
Rev. Dr. Beecher. 

THE AMERICAN HOTEL. 

This house stands upon Broadway, between the Union 
and the old United States hotels. It has been much im- 
proved of late j^ears, and is growing in the popular favor. 
It is one of the few of the large Saratoga hotels which are 
kept open all the year round. The charges, we believe, are 
less at the American than at the more fashionable resorts. 



THE MARVIN HOUSE. 

The Mamn affords excellent quarters for some two 
hundi*ed and fifty guests. It is most eligibly located, and 
possesses all the needful comforts of a first-class house. 



THE COLUMBIAN HOTEL. 

This well-known house was unfortunately destroyed by 
fire in the summer of 1866. Its old guests, returning in 




•9 ■^SJW^'^?^^^ ^ '^ ^iv •=. ^^-^ 



Saratoga Water-Cure. 



SAKATOGA. 27 

1867, will be well pleased to find it rebuilt in better style 
even than before. The Columbian is conveniently situated 
a little way up Broadway. 



THE WATER CURES. 

The water-cure establishments of Dr. Bedi'otha and of 
Dr. Hamilton are side by side on Congress Street and 
Broadway, directly opposite the Union Hotel. They are 
both excellent houses of their kind, and are always well 
filled. We scarcely need to commend them to invalids 
visiting the Springs. 



THE OLD UNITED STATES HOTEL. 

The late United States Hotel was a spacious and famous 
establishment. The various buildings were covered with 
a mile and a half of roofing, and with the grounds and 
courts occupied the generous area of six acres. The house 
was built in part in 1823, by John Ford. It passed after- 
wards into the hands of James M. Marvin & Co., by whom 
it was successfully conducted, until the time of its desti-uc- 
tion by fire in 1864. 

There were guests of the United States who had sum- 
mered under its hospitable roofs year after year, from youth 
to age, storing up thousands of happy memories of the old 
place, which were rudely disturbed when it passed away. 
It is appetizing even to think of the luxurious dinners and 



28 SAEATOGA. 

tlie dainty suppers which were spread for so many years 
upon its generous tables ; and the gouty foot becomes the 
light fantastic toe again, at the remembrance of all the gay 
revelry it once shared in the old festive halls. Endless and 
varied are the associations which cling to the spot, and 
both happy and sad the memories it will awaken. Many 
staid matrons and grave su-es, now thousands of miles 
away," who whilom danced and sighed together in the van- 
ished parlors and the silent groves, will recall scenes of 
great pith and moment, which perchance gave color — rosy 
color, let us hope — to all their after-life. 



THE SARATOGA HOP. 

"Music and dancing are of course very important items 
in the catalogue of Saratoga occupations, as they are at all 
spas and places of summer recreation ; and the appoint- 
ments at our Springs, in this wise, are most ample and 
excellent. In former days, the watering-place " institution " 
known as the Hop was a rarer and more serious aflfair, in 
the preparation, than it is in om- improved age. Long 
intervals separated the happy occasions, and all sorts of 
preparatory labor was required. The dining-halls had to 
be vacated for the nonce, so that the apartments could be 
seasonably converted into ball-rooms : thus the dinner of 
the day became a hurried affair, and " tea " had to be 
snatched as best it might. Now each of the principal 
hotels has its especial altar to Terpsichore, and the lamp 
of incense is forever trimmed and burning. The guest 
dines and sups at ease and leisure, and when the diurnal 




The Ldte United ^tdtes Hotel. 



SAKATOGA. 29 

hour arrives for the saltatory devotions of the evening, he 
or she steals a glance at the approving mkror, calls the 
conquering smile to the lips, points the expectant toe with 
required grace, and floats at once into the elysian maze. 

The " Hop," when it reaches the proportions and dig- 
nity of a ball, is an occasional and more elaborate mystery, 
and is held at one particular "house," in behalf of the 
whole : the toilette becomes a matter of life and death, to 
the utter forgetfulness of tlie price of gold and " universal 
sufii-age." The order of the dancing, and the programme 
of the orchestra are solemnly considered and formally 
announced ; and last, though not least, agreeable refresh- 
ments are provided for the sustenance of the exhausted 
devotees. On these signal occasions, the whole village 
population, both exotic and native, unite in joyous 
reveliy. 

It is not, however, on occasions only, frequent as they 
may be, that Saratoga dances. On the contraiy, it is for- 
ever dancing or drinking — the one exercise being the ome- 
ga as the other is the alpha of its butterfly life. Each 
and every night bands of skilled musicians discourse at 
the hotels, and those who will may waltz and polk un- 
ceasingly. 

A peep at these gay and brilliant scenes, and at the 
beaux and belles, in all their gorgeous array of trailing 
robes and gleaming jewels, will explain to the wondering 
novice the meaning and use of the travelling arks, known 
at the present time as " Saratoga trunks." One has but to 
watch for a single day the successive toilettes, as they change 
ft-om morn to noon, from noon to eve, and from eve to 
night — to see that the massive structures are, comparatively 
3* 



30 SAEATOGA. 

speaking, and considering what they are required to hold- 
nothing but carpet-bags after all. 

It is just possible that the packing of these little bags, 
with their little stores, may have cost some painful priva- 
tions and some pitiful pinching around the fireside at home ; 
or it may be followed, anon, by the lost credit and the 
broken heart of some over-indulgent pater-familias, delving 
in his Wall Street lair ; but what of that ! we have had 
SI meiiy and a jolly time, our little vanity and our petty 
pride have been gratified to the full — we have happily 
excited each other's envy — perchance his hate — and have 
picked up mutual impressions, good or bad, as wide of the 
truth as is desirable for people who may possibly become 
intimately associated in after-life. 

Should any such idle reflections as these flit across the 
minds of the fan* wives and daughters and sisters and 
fiancees^ as they seek their late repose, they will doubtless 
find a sufficiently soothing balm when they awake, and 
picking up the morning paper, read Jenkins' brilliant de- 
scription of their triumphs of the night before ; — as how, for 
example, the lovely Mrs. Col. D — h — y, of New York, wore 
a white tarleton double sknt ; the under sku-t elaborately 
trimmed with ruchings of green and white tarleton ; the 
corsage of white silk, cut low and pointed, and headed with 
green leaves, with berthe and sleeves of white tarleton, 
puffed and trimmed with green ruchings, to correspond 
with skirt ; glove of delicate light green, hair crepecl, head 
light and waterfall heavy, with clusters of pearls and 
diamonds. 

Or how the charming Miss B — r — y, of Philadelphia, 
was deliciously robed in a white organdie, with deep 



SARATOGA. 31 

flounce, with pufl3ngs of the same, lined with pink ribbons, 
corsage decolette, and berthe with tucks and insertings : 
sleeves long and full : a wreath of pink and white roses, 
dropping from the right shoulder, diagonally to the head 
of the flounce in the skirt. Hair powdered with diamond 
dust, and waterfall of neglige curls. 

Jenkins will be gracious and pardon us, we trust, if our 
text fails, as is likely, to do justice to his amiable and 
facile pen. 



THE LELAND OPERA HOUSE. 

For those who cannot exist in the countiy without all 
the luxurious adjuncts of city life, Saratoga has built its 
Opera House, where may be witnessed, from time to time, 
as the " stars " may happen to shine on the village, the 
mysteries of the Thespian art and the strains of the lyric 
stage. 

Though not pretending to rival La Scala or the Grand 
Opera, the Saratoga house nevertheless makes excellent 
attraction in opera and concert — sometimes ofiering the 
best talent and genius of the time. Of course neither 
visitors nor residents neglect to avail themselves of all the 
opportunities it afl'ords. The building is also veiy useful 
for the various miscellaneous entertainments which fortune 
may provide, and for such impromptu festivals — fairs, 
tableaux, and the like — which the wit and genius of the 
visitors may suggest. 

The Opera House is one of the many great debts which 
the people and guests of Saratoga owe to the large and 



32 SAEATOGA. 

liberal enterprise of Major Leland, the popular host of the 
" Union." It is the property of the Messrs. Leland, by 
whom it was devised and built, at a cost of some eighty 
thousand dollars. 

The house stands a little way south of the rear of the 
Union Hotel. It is imposing in its exterior, and has every 
possible convenience and comfort within, with accommo- 
dation for an audience of fifteen hundred or more people. 
It is surrounded, indeed almost buried, by colonnade and 
piazza, which afford delightful breathing-room on sultry 
summer nights. 

The Opera House was appropriately inaugurated on the 
night of the Fourth of July, 1865, with the grand ball, 
which followed the memorable dinner given on that day 
by Major Leland, of the Union Hotel, to his confreres of 
the Army of the Tennessee ; at which a larger number 
of illustrious generals, majors, colonels, captains, and 
ofScei"s of all ranks assisted, than ever met before on any 
field. 

At another time the house was used for the successful 
exhibition of tableaux vkantSj which was given b}' the 
guests of the " Union " in aid of the sufferei-s by the fatal 
Portland tire. This latter occasion, no less than the open- 
ing ball, will be long pleasantly remembered in connection 
with the new Opera House. The net proceeds of the 
tableaux entertainment reached the generous sum of nearly 
two thousand dollars. Major Leland contributing the use of 
the building, and Mr. Kent, one of the guests, defraying the 
other expenses. 



SARATOGA. 33 



THE MINERAL WATERS. 

The valley stretch, which is more or less occupied by 
the Saratoga watei-s, is of veiy considerable extent, reach- 
ing from the banks of the Hudson, — even as far south as 
the city of Albany — to a distance of about sixty miles, to 
Argyle, in Washington County ; the general course being, 
from the most southerly pomt, northwest, via Ballston, to 
the village of Saratoga, and thence northeastward. The 
waters are of course most abundant at the particular local- 
ity from which they are named — and in a business sense 
may be said to exist there alone. 

The springs issue from the limestone strata, which 
everywhere underlies the sandy loam upon which the vil- 
lage is built, most of them showing themselves along the 
banks of the little brook which traverses the place. 

The medicinal virtues of the Saratoga waters are of a 
rare and very varied character, efficacious in the treatment 
of many troublesome complaints, and invaluable to the 
partial invalid and all generally dilapidated and used-up 
visitors, as a pleasant and sure cathartic and tonic. Taken in 
reasonable quantity, and particularly in connection with the 
fresh air, exercise, physical and mental repose, and the 
pleasurable recreations incident to the routine of Saratoga 
life, the waters never fail to provoke appetite, promote 
digestion, exorcise the blues and the bile, and to generally 
purify, sti-engthen, and cheer both body and mind. For 
a detailed and scientific account of their properties and 
virtues in relation to the various classes and stages of dis- 
ease, in the cure ana correction of which they may be used, 



34 SAKATOGA. 

the suffering reader is referred to the excellent Handbook 
of Dr. R. L. Allen, a distmguished resident physician. 

Of course the waters are employed chiefly in the sum- 
mer season, but they are said to be equally beneficial when 
taken during the coldest winter months. Change of season 
does not appear to affect their temperature, specific gravity, 
or chemical composition ; and they lie too deeply imbedded 
in the bosom of old mother earth to be at all vexed by the 
fresh waters on the surface or by the spring or autumn 
raiiis. 

Besides the immense quantities daily consumed by 
visitors at the fountains, large supplies of some of the 
waters are bottled and exported, for home use, to all parts 
of the country ; so much so indeed that they are to be 
found among the specifics of every considerable di'ug-store 
in the land. 

The whole categoiy of the Saratoga waters embraces 
a list altogether too extended for individual mention ; but 
there are soi^ie dozen or more, distinguished from the 
crowd, and possessing general fame and favor, of w:hich it 
will be proper to speak in some detail in our chapter upon 
the mineral waters, of which the few pages just written are 
meant to seiTC as preface. 

Among these stars in the liquid firmament are the 
Congress, the most popularly known of all the group, the 
Empire, the High Eock, the Columbian, the Hamilton, the 
Putnam, the Pavilion, and the Star or Iodine, as it was 
formerly named. 



;':':!llili!'l!!bii;; 



■i I'i 



I il 

■Hi 



■I 



T 

III 111 



ISik; 



■i 



,11! ii' 

ii|!;W 




SARATOGA. 36 



CONGRESS SPRING. 

Congress Spring, the most famous and most fashionable 
of the Saratoga waters, was discovered in 1792, just seventy- 
five years after the visit of Sir Wilham Johnson to the 
High Rock. 

A hunting-party happened to observe numerous deer- 
tracks, leading in a particular direction ; and, following the 
trail with some curiosity, to see whither it led, they stum- 
bled upon a new mineral spring, which the deer, it appears, 
were in the habit of visiting in their search for salt. The 
water issued from a rock about three feet in height, through 
an apertm'e midway between the top and the ground. 
Among the Nimrods was a member of Congress named 
Oilman, and in honor of this gentleman and his high posi- 
tion, the new fountain was christened Congress Sprmg. 

The water was at first secm-ed by pressing a cup against 
the rock, through which means not more than one quart 
per minute was obtained. To increase the yield, and to 
economize the loss by this primitive mode of drawing, 
Gideon Putnam, who was at all times wide awake, set 
about clearing and tubing the spring. He first turned the 
brook some few feet from its original course, and, guided 
by the bubbles of gas, which rose from the channel of the 
stream, he sunk a shaft into the rock. The water there- 
upon ceased to issue from the old aperture, but rose in 
ample supply from the new opening, and was at once se- 
cured as completely as was practicable, by means of a tube 
made of pine planks. Putnam, we are told, had, at one 
time, two potash kettles employed in evaporating the 



36 SAKATOGA. 

water and precipitating salts, which he put up in small 
packages, and sold, to the amount, sometimes, of several 
hundi-ed dollars a year. The speculation, however, soon 
ceased to be profitable, when it was found that the salts, 
redissolved, did not produce Congress water. 

The property upon which the Congress Spring is situ- 
ated was purchased in the year 1826, by Mr. John Clarke, 
a gentlemen of culture and enterprise, and who had had 
considerable experience in the management of such mattei"s. 
To him, indeed, belonged the honor — ^such as it was — of 
having opened the first soda fountain in New York. 

The spring had risen gradually in reputation from the 
day of its discovery, and when it fell under the control 
of Mr. Clarke, it had acquired a wide-spread fame, which 
his administration did not fail to heighten and extend. 
He veiy soon began to bottle the water for exportation, 
and with so much success as to realize from that source 
alone a very handsome income. 

Mr. Clarke added to his possessions in the vicinity from 
time to time, and to such an extent that, when he died, in 
1846, he was the owner of no less than one thousand acres 
of land in the neighborhood of his spring. That he was 
a man of fine taste and of liberal views, is evident from the 
admirable improvements which he made all around, as in 
the decoration of the fountain, and more particularly in the 
chai-ming park which lies south and east of the spring, and 
which his enterprise conjured from the slimy swamp. 

The water of Congress Spring is an excellent cathartic, 
veiy agreeable to the palate, and most cheering to the 
spirits. It is employed with good result in almost all cases 
of weak digestion, of dyspepsia, and of general debility. 



SABATOGA. 37 

Crowds gather around the pretty fountain in the early 
summer mornings to win appetite for breakfast, and life for 
the pleasures of the day. Old or young, sick or well, every- 
body drinks; for the Congress fountain is the morning 
exchange to which all resort, even as the ball-room is the 
gathering-place at night. It is a gay group, that, which 
the rising sun always looks down upon by the Congress 
fountain, and as pleasant to see as any of many bright 
tableaux mvants to be found at Saratoga. 

The Congress water, by recent analysis, is found to be 
composed as follows : 



To one Gallon. 

GRAINS. 

Chloride of Sodium, 360.560 

Carbonate of Soda, 8.000 

Carbonate of Lime, 82.321 

Carbonate of Magnesia, '78.242 

Carbonate of Iron, 3.645 

Iodide of Soda, 4.531 

Silica, 0.510 

Alumina 0.231 

Solid contents, .... 538.040 

Carbonic Acid, 340.231 

Atmospheric Air, 4.000 

Gaseous contents, .... 344.231 



THE HIGH ROCK SPRING. 

This curiously formed fountain is the oldest of the great 
and numerous Saratoga family of waters, being the veritable 
4 



38 



SAEATOGA. 



spring at which the first white visitor to the region — Sir 
William Johnson— di'ank, just one hundred years ago. 




HIGH ROCK SPRING. 



The High Rock Spring is unusually interesting, both 
from its medicinal virtues and for its singular geological 
structure. 

The rock from whence the spring issues is a conical 
deposit of limestone, three feet and a half high and twenty- 
four and one-third feet in circumference. On the top there 
is an aperture, of cylindrical fonn and a foot in diameter. 
Recent bold excavations, under the direction of its present 
proprietors, show that their singular formation, which has 
for so many years been a subject of speculation and mys- 



SAEATOGA. 39 

teiy, extends only a few inches below the surface, and may- 
be easily moved. Upon displacing it, it was found to con- 
tain a chamber about two feet in diameter, and below it 
there was a reservoir filled with the bubbling water to the 
depth of ten feet. Hidden in this unveiled reservoh*, there 
were found numerous tumblers, w^hich had been accident- 
ally dropped, from time to time, through the aperture. 
The soil in all directions was incrasted with the deposits 
from the water ; but directly beneath the rock there was 
found, strange to relate, the trunk of a tree, a foot and a 
half in diameter, and of sufficient solidity to admit of its 
being sawed in pieces and removed. This tree unquestion- 
ably fell, on the spot where it lay, before the time when 
the formation of the rock above it commenced — that is 
to say, about three thousand years ago ! 

Still a few feet below this most venerable dead man of 
the woods, there was also found the body of an oak of 
about eight inches in diameter, and but slightly decayed. 

When the excavations, by means of which these singu- 
lar facts were brought to light, had reached to the depth of 
twelve feet, it became evident that further digging would 
expose the crevice in the solid rock, from which the foun- 
tain flows, and bolder venture was forebome. 

The High Rock, thus displaced, is to be again set over 
the fountain, when it is expected that it will be overflown 
by the water, as it has been through so many centuries 
gone by. The rock has been foimed by the mineral sub- 
stances which are held in solution in the springs, as mag- 
nesia, lime, and iron, intermixed with the leaves and twigs 
of trees, and other particles. 

The highly-charged water of this spring, upon rising to 



40 SAEATOGA. 

the air, can hold but one volume of the gas in solution, and 
"has tlierefore precipitated its excess of carbonates, particle 
l)y particle, around the apei-ture of the fountain, until the 
accumulation and the uniting of these precipitates has, in 
the lapse of time, formed the great mass of calcareous tufa 
so long known as the High Rock. 

Other fomiations of the kind are to be seen at Saratoga, 
in a greater or less extent. The Flat Rock displays similar 
deposits, and at the mouth of the Empire Spring there was 
found an accumulation of tufa about the size of an inverted 
two-quart bowl. Similar deposits are indeed always being 
made under like conditions ; but they rarely remain so un- 
disturbed, by currents of water or other agencies, as to 
obtain any very great bulk, and never the extraordinary 
dimensions of the High Rock, which is supposed to be the 
largest and most wonderful specimen of the kind in the 
world. 

Dr. Valentine Seaman, in his description, in 1809, of this 
celebrated spring and its magnificent tufa, says : " The 
more we reflect upon it, the more we must be convinced 
of the important place this rock ought to hold among the 
wonderful works in nature. Had it stood on the borders 
of the Lago D'Agnans, the noted Grotto del Cani (which, 
since the peculiar properties of carbonic acid have been 
known, burden almost eveiy book which treats of the gas), 
would never have been heard of beyond the environs of 
Naples ; while this fountain, in its place, would have been 
deservedly celebrated in story and spread upon canvas, to 
the admiration of the world, as one of its greatest curi- 
osities." 

The High Rock Spring is situated in the more northern 



SAKATOGA. 41 

part of the village, but a short distance from the Empiix3 
and the Star or Iodine springs. In the rear of ihe springs 
the rocks rise to the height of thirty to forty feet, affording 
opportunity for more picturesque embellishments than the 
spot yet displays. The water of the High Rock is abun- 
dant and of very uniform quality. It is an admirable tonic, 
and of greater force as a stimulant than the more frequented 
Congress fountain by which it has been, in a gi-eat meas- 
m*e, supplanted in the popular esteem. 

Dr. Allen's latest tests of this spiing show the following 
component parts : 

To one Gallon. 

GRAINS. 

Chloride of Sodium, . 190.223 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 62.100 

Carbonate of Lime, 71.538 

Carbonate of Soda, 18.421 

Carbonate of Iron, . . 4.233 

Iodide of Soda 2.177 

Silex and Alumina, . . \ 2.500 

Hydriobromate of Potash— a small quantity. 

Solid contents, . . . 351.197 



THE EMPIRE SPRING. 

The Empire, the most northerly of the series of springs, 
lies beyond the High Rock, at the head of and to the right 
of Broadway. Next to the Congress, it is the most fashion- 
able fountain in the village, although it did not come into 
notice until the year 1846. Directly behind the spring 
there lies a bluff of Mohawk limestone, about forty feet in 
4* 



42 SAKATOGA. 

height, resting on a ledge of calciferous sandstone. The 
water issued through a perforation in this sandstone, which 
circumstance greatly facilitated the securing of it, with its 
full complement of gas, by allowing a tube to be scribed to 
the surface of the rock. 

The column of water in the tube above the rock is nine 
and a half feet — the tube itself being eleven and a half feet. 
The fountain yields the liberal supply of seventy-five gal- 
lons per hour. Despite its remote position, it has ah*eady, 
in the comparatively short time in which it has been in use, 
acquired a high reputation, and is attended daily by large 
numbers of -sasitors. 

It is considered to be an excellent cathartic and alter- 
ative water, and is serviceable in a very wide range of 
cases. 

The component parts of the Empire Spring, as seen in 
the analysis of one gallon of the water, are given as fol- 
lows : 

To one Gallon, 

GRAINS. 

Chloride of Sodium, ... .... 270.000 

Carbonate of Lime, 145.321 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 43.123 

Carbonate of Soda, 30.304 

Carbonate of Ii-on, 3.000 

Iodide of Soda 8.000 

Smca, 1.000 



Solid contents, . . . 500.748 
Gaseous contents, . . . 700 

Specific gravity, . . . 1.0056 



SARATOGA. 



43 



COLUMBIAN SPRING. 

This pleasant water, with its pretty protecting dome, is 
familiar enough to all visitors to Saratoga, — standing as it 
does in such close proximitj'- to the Congress Spring, in full 




COLUMBIAN SPRING. 



view from the piazza of the Union Hotel. It is one of the 
oldest of the mineral springs, having been opened by Gideon 
Putnam asearly as 1806. 

The water of the Columbian is feiTuginous, and contains 



44 SARATOGA. 

a great quantity of carbonic acid in a free state, which, 
bubbling to the surface, gives it the appearance of a boiling 
spring. 

The general properties of this water are veiy much the 
same as those of its neighbor, the Congress, though varying 
in theu" relative qualities. It is a very strong tonic, and, 
in consequence, should be used with caution, and not too 
freely. 

The following ingredients are found in an analysis of 
one gallon of the Columbian fountain : 

GRAINS. 

Chloride of Sodium, 290.501 

Carbonate of Soda, 26.000 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 40.321 

Carbonate of Lime, 90.000 

Carbonate of Iron, 6.000 

Iodide of Soda, 3.000 

Silica and Alumina, 1.531 



Solid contents, . . . 457.353 



Carbonic Acid, . . . 330.000 



THE WASHTNGTON SPRING. 

The Washington, othei-\Ndse known as White's Spring, 
lies about six hundred feet southeast of the Congress foun- 
tain, in the grounds of the Clarendon Hotel. It is the only 
spring of all the group which is situated on this, the west 
side of Broadway. It was opened as early as 1806, by old 
•Gideon Putnam, but remained unused until 1858, when 



SARATOGA. 45 

Mr. John H. White, into whose hands the property had 
passed two years before, undertook to restore it, by tracing 
the water to the place of its escape from the rock. The 
undertaking proved to be both toilsome and hazardous. 

A shaft, eleven feet square and thirty feet long, was sunk, 
but no water rose through it. The explorations were then 
continued a distance of thirty feet, by means of a substantial 
tunnel. During the operations, the earth gave way, when 
the water and gas poured in with such velocity, as to leave 
the laborers barely time to escape with their lives. No 
less than twelve thousand gallons of water, and twice as 
much carbonic acid gas, entered the shaft in the brief space 
of fifteen minutes. 

After a while another shaft was sunk, and the earth 
broke through a second time, again endangering the lives 
of the workmen. The thh'd attempt, which was made at 
another point, proved more successful. The shaft used at 
this time was twenty feet in diameter, and was constructed 
in a veiy massive and substantial manner. When it was 
completed the explorers had the satisfaction of seeing their 
oft-renewed efforts amply repaid. The water rose spark- 
ling and bright thi'ough the tube, and has ever since con- 
tinued to flow over the top in free and full supply. 

The fountain is highly esteemed, and is much resorted 
to. The water is of a very lively character, and is service- 
able in a great variety of ways. 

THE PAVILION SPRING. 

The Pavilion lies a few feet east of the pleasant prome- 
nade called the Willow Walk, in the rear of the Columbian 



46 SARATOGA. 

Hotel. A few rods southeast of the Pavilion is the Flat 
Rock Spring ; and the Emph-e, High Rock, and Star foun- 
tains are not far above. 

This spring was discovered at an early day, but was not 
utilized until the year 1839, when it was tubed, with much 
cost and labor, by Daniel McLaren, the owner of the prop- 
eity at that period. 

It lay in the midst of a deep morass, from which it rose 
through an alluvial deposit of forty feet in depth. Under 
Mr. McLaren's efforts, and afterwards through the enter- 
prise of the Messrs. Walton, into whose possession the 
grounds again fell, the morass was cleared, and otherwise 
greatly improved. The channel of the brook was turned, 
pleasant walks were made, and shade-ti*ees were planted, 
so that the spot is at this time an agreeable place of 
resort. 

The analysis of the Pavilion shows the following 
properties : 

* 

To one GaUon. 

GRAINS. 

Chloride of Sodium, 183.816 

Carbonate of Soda, 6.000 

Carbonate of Lime, 59.593 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 58.266 

Carbonate of Iron, 4.133 

Iodide of Soda and Bromine of Potasea, , . . 2.566 

Silex and Alumina, 1.000 

Solid contents, . . 315.372 
Gaseous contents, . . 372.499 



SABATOGA. 47 



THE HA]^IILTON SPRING. 

The Hamilton Spring is another of the many which 
were discovered and tubed by Gideon Putnam, in the early 
part of the present century. It is situated a few rods north- 
east of Congress Spring, and in the rear of the late Congress 
Hall. It was retubed and placed in its present condition 
by the late Dr. Clarke, to whom the village and the public 
at large are so much indebted for improvements, not only 
in the development of the mineral resources of the valley, 
but for contributions to the growth and beauty of the town 
in many valuable ways. The water rises in the tube al- 
most to the level of the ground, bubbling up by means of 
the rapid escape of fixed air, not unlike a boiling spring. 
Dm'ing the past thirty or fort}' years it has been employed 
satisfactorily as an alterative. It is beneficial also as a 
cathartic, in cases of very weak stomachs, where rude, 
active waters — as those, for example, of the Congi-ess Spring 
— might be too active and exhausting. 

The following is the analysis of this spiing, as made by 
Dr. Allen 



To one GaMon. 

GRAIK9. 

Chloride of Sodium, 298.050 

Carbonate of Soda, 34.250 

Carbonate of Lime, 97.990 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 39.006 

Carbonate of Iron, 4.025 



48 SAKATOGA. 

6RAIKS. 

Iodide of Soda, 3.598 

Silex and Alumina, 1.000 

Solid contents, .... 479.191 

Carbonic Acid, 320.777 

Atmospheric Air, 1.461 

Gaseous contents, . . . 322.238 

Temperatui-e, 48<' 

THE PUTNAM SPRING. 

The Putnam Spiing is but a few steps to the northeast 
of the Hamilton, and midway between Broadway and Put- 
nam streets. It was tubed and brought into use in the year 
1835, by Mr. Lewis Putnam. Since that time it has been 
retubed and improved in various ways. The w^ater has 
been bottled, and is freely used by visitors with veiy satis- 
factory results. It contains more iron among its ingre- 
dients than any of the mineral waters of the neighborhood, 
— excepting, perhaps, the Columbian. The taste is by no 
means unpleasant. Attached to this spiing is an excellent 
bathing-house, in which the mineral water is used. There 
are, also, well-ordered bathing facilities at the Hamilton 
Spring, last referred to in om- catalogue. Many visitors 
find as much benefit from the use of the Saratoga waters in 
this way as in taking them internally. The external appli- 
cation, indeed, while at all times a veiy pleasurable and 
exhilarating remedy, is much less likely to produce injuri- 
ous efiects through excessive use, than is the di'iuking of 
the waters as indulged in by many visitors. 



SAEATOGA. 49 

ANALYSIS OF THE PUTNAM SPRING. 
To one Oallon. 

GRAINS. 

Chloride of Sodium, 220.000 

Carbonate of Soda, 15.321 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 45.500 

Carbonate of Lime, 70.433 

Carbonate of Iron, ........ 5.333 

Iodide of Soda, 2.500 

Silex and Alumina, 1.500 

Solid contents, . . 360.587 

Carbonic Acid, 317.753 

Atmospheric Air, 3.080 



Gaseous contents, . 



Temperature, 48" 



THE STAR SPRING. 

The Star Spring was at one time known as the Presi- 
dent, and yet more recently as the Iodine. It is situated in 
the upper part of the village, not far from the High Rock. 
It has been analyzed by Dr. Allen, with the following 
results : 

To one Oallon. 

GRAINS. 

Chloride of Sodium, 180.731 

Carbonate of Soda, 8.000 

5 



50 



SARATOGA. 



Carbonate of Mao^iesia, 30.000 

Carbonate of Lime, 74.213 

Carbonate of Iron, 1.000 

Iodide of Sodium, 3.235 

Silica and Alumina, . . .500 



Solid contents. 



Carbonic Acid and Atmospheric Air, . . 335.000 




STAB SPRING. 



THE EXCELSIOR SPRING. 



The Excelsior is a name recently bestowed upon one of 
the group of mineral fountains known as the Ten Springs. 
It flows directly from the primeval rock, and is of great 
purity and excellence. It possesses, like its numerous sister 



SARATOGA. 51 

waters, sti'ong diuretic, alterative, and tonic vii'tucs. The 
latest analysis shows the Excelsior to be composed as 
follows : 

GKAIN8. 

Chloride of Sodium, 375.8996 

Carbonate of Lime, 76.0100 

Carbonate of Magnesia, . ^ 30.4437 

Carbonate of Soda, 10.3520 

Silicate of Potassa, 6.9827 

Silicate of Soda, 3.7672 

Carbonate of Iron-, 2.8086 

Sulphate of Soda, 1.5503 



Solid contents in one gallon, . . . 507.8203 



THE "a" SPRESTG. 

This fountain is situated some twenty rods above the 
" Empu-e." It was opened in 1866, and promises to become 
a very popular resort. 

THE TEN SPRINGS. 

The Ten Springs are grouped within the circumference 
of an acre of gi-ound, about a mile northeast of the village, 
and may be reached either by a carriage-road or by a pleas- 
ant winding path through the woods. They were discov- 
ered in the year 1814. 

THE ELLIS SPRING. 

This fountain springs from the side of a deep ravine 
about two miles south of the village. A densely wooded 



52 SARATOGA. 

brook traverses the gorge, and presents some picturesque 
features worth seeing. The water here is an agreeable bev- 
erage, and if situated othei*wise than amidst such a wealth 
of waters as this region offers, would be of great value. 

reed's smmG. 

This fountain may be mentioned in our resume of the 
Saratoga waters, though it is not included in the village 
group. It lies, indeed, far away in South Argyle, in Wash- 
ington County, the northern terminus of the great mineral 
valley. It is an acidulous carbonated water, and escapes 
through a fissure in a stratum of Mohawk limestone. It is 
not a veiy sparkling water, but is at least harmless, and, 
witli its slightly acidulated taste, is by no means disagree- 
able to the palate. 

It is sometimes used as a yeast, in the concoction of the 
diet known in the vicinity as " spring- water rolls." 

THE WHITE SULPHUR SPRING. 

This fountain is situated on the east side of Saratoga 
Lake, in a little picturesque ravine about a mile and a half 
below Snake Hill. Not far from the lake, a distance say 
of twenty rods, the visitor will see a niche in the south 
bank of the small brook which runs through the ravine 
just mentioned, and in the heart of this niche, at the base 
of the bluff, he will find the spring. The water is heavily 
impregnated with sulphurated hydrogen gas, and is not to 
be commended as an agreeable drink, whatever may be its 
sanitaiy merits. 



SARATOGA. 53 

The water boils up in a basin some eight feet wide by 
two feet in depth. It is so remarkably clear, that it is said 
a needle's eye may be distinctly seen at the bottom of the 
fountain. The gas bubbles up from among the pebbles and 
sand in a veiy lively style, inviting the unwaiy to drink and 
be — veiy little pleased with the flavor of the dose. 

At one time a hotel and bathing-house oflfered accept- 
able accommodations at this spring, but like so many of the 
Saratoga hotels, they w^ere unluckily burned one day. 

The grove and greensward in which the spring is cen- 
ti-ed is a pretty place, and is much affected by the village 
picnic parties. 

THE INDIAN ENCAIUPMENT. 

Not the least interesting of the regular pastimes of Sara- 
toga is a visit to the Indian Encampment, to be seen on the 
sku'ts of the village every year, as the summer days come 
round. These red-men visit the place, not as they follow 
the war-path, nor in quest of game, nor even to drink of 
the waters and be healed, as did their forefathers some- 
times in ages gone by ; but simply with an eye to business, 
like the fashionable modiste, whose gorgeous sign appears 
in Broadway eveiy season about the same time. 

They are not to be mistaken for the Massasoits, the 
Philips, the Canonicuses, the Black Hawks, and the Tecum- 
sehs of the old warrior age of aboriginal story — nor for the 
interesting gentiy of that stripe who figure in poetly and 
fiction : on the contrary, they are of a veiy opposite and de- 
generate class, being simply a gipsey band — half or quarter 
breeds, of Canadian French and negro blood, with plenty 



64 SAEATOGA. 

of tlie vicious reality and but little of the beautiful romance 
of the conventional Indian character. 

Their encampment, notwithstanding, affords scenes and 
incidents most agreeable to the eye, and themes of thought 
quite worth considering. The white tents, gleaming 
amongst the forest verdure, and the bright costumes and 
varied action of the changing groups, make pleasant pic- 
tures to frame in one's memoiy of the place. And there is 
much to see and study in the variety of their manufacture 
and merchandise ; their gorgeously decorated bows and 
quivers — harmless enough now, alas ! — the pretty bead- 
work of the squaws — the papooses oscillating in their mstic 
cradles, and many rare curiosities, for use or ornament, and 
peculiar to Indian life. If generously disposed, the visitor 
may set up pennies for targets, and as prizes for the little 
red gargons when they bring them down, as they are sure 
to do with their flying arrows. In the evening hours the 
light of the camp-fires lends a new and yet brighter charm 
to the scene. 



THE KAIL WAY STATION. 

The stage-office, the steamboat-landing, or the railway- 
station, as the case may be, is always a point of interest to 
visitors at a watering-place. In the busy city, people may 
come and go by thousands, but who ever thinks of the 
arrivals or the departures, unless, perchance, he have a 
friend now and then to welcome in or to speed away ? 
Who, indeed, will even stop to shake hands, much less to 
cross the street, to greet an acquaintance unseen for months, 



SARATOGA. 55 

and who may, for aught that is known, have shivered at 
the poles or roasted on the equator within the interval ? It 
is not thus at the lazy summer retreats. Here there is time 
enough for more than mere civility. Here the hard, pre- 
occupied business air, the devil-take- the-hindmost expression 
of selfish absorption, is exchanged for the ready recognition, 
the cordial greeting, and an amiability and even an aflfection- 
ateness of welcome worthy of the heart of a " Chenyble " 
brother. With leisure enough for friendly curiosity and 
for active sympathy (if the heart is by nature large enough 
for the high humanities), people at Saratoga, as at all sum- 
mer lounges, are interested in the incomings and outgoings 
of their fellow-men ; and, as the best means of gratifying 
this laudable feeUng, and perchance of killing a dull hour 
at the same time, they are daily Jidbituees of the railway- 
station, at such times as the ups and downs may be falling 
due, — watching with more or less eagerness if perchance 
some friend may turn up, and saluting even a slight city 
acquaintance with a warmth undreamed of in the colder 
social temperature of the town. There is nothing like such 
pleasant leisure and grateful rest to thaw the frozen heart. 

At Saratoga the facilities for such greetings and fare- 
wells are excellent, for the railway-station is a most agree- 
able spot, standing in a broad, open square, and within a 
brief walk of all the chief hotels. 



BROADWAY. 

Pity 'tis that the godfathers and godmothers of the chief 

street in " our village" did not bestow upon it a patronymic 



56 SAEATOGA. 

less suggestive of dust and dirt, of hurry and unrest, than 
are the frightful syllables, to countiy -loving ears, of " Broad- 
way." Still, a rose with any other name, the poet tells us, 
will smell as sweet ; and our Saratoga Broadway is unques- 
tionably a noble avenue, miles in length, ample in breadth, 
and withal shaded, for the most part, with splendid elms. 
It has its crowds, to be sure, as has the Broadway below, on 
Manhattan Island ; but they are crowds of holiday loungers 
— not huiTjdng bulls and bears ; of gay-liveried equipages — 
not lumbering drays and omnibuses ; and should you meet 
a friend, after a year or so's absence, you may, en passant^ 
give him somewhat more than a hasty nod. Neither are 
we troubled here with noisy pavements, Russ, Belgian, or 
asphalte; and sad-eyed mendicants beset us not as we 
move along. 

The entire length of this fine street is more than three 
miles in a direct line, and even in the more thronged por- 
tions the crowd is lost amidst the verdure of the double line 
of beautiful trees which traverses the whole promenade : 
or the varied hues of the gay attire, contrasted with and 
seen, here and there, amidst the green leafage, produces 
still a feeling of rural rather than of metropolitan life. 
Much of the street, also, is at all times quiet and country- 
looking enough, for the hotel and business quarters occupy 
only a comparatively small part, at the lower extremity. 
This quarter, as far as it extends, is gay enough, with the 
showy shops of the migratory modistes, the restaurants and 
saloons, and the other appendages of a fashionable water- 
ing-place, superadded to the local business of the village. 
To all this is to be added the throngs which lounge on 
the broad piazzas of the hotels, or which are coming and 



SARATOGA. 57 

going to and from tne many fountains. Altogether our 
Saratoga Broadway is a very pleasant sort of Broadway — 
a clever rus in urhe. 

THE PARK. 

The beautiful crescent-shaped grounds around the Con- 
gress Spring were reclaimed from the deep and dank swamp 
by Mr. John Clarke, the former owner of the property, who 
purchased the farm, in which it was included, of the Living- 
stons, in 1826. 

This tract, once so dreary and doleful, is now one of the 
chiefest landscape beauties of the village. The topography 
of the grounds is very agreeably diversified, showing fine 
reaches of meadow and lawn, and pretty hill-slopes, open 
glade, and shady copse, all interspersed with little winding 
walks or broader promenades. The sunny hours may be 
chaiTttingly spent in the bosky nooks of the Park, in the 
quiet companionship of books, or in cosy gossip with some 
of the many old friends always to be found at the Springs. 
The Park presents a brilliant face on a bright summer 
morning, when the throngs of tripping feet tend hither 
from all points, to drink the sparkling waters of the famous 
Congress or Columbian springs ; and when many an early 
riser, bent upon enjoying " the free, the fresh, the early 
morning air," takes his " constitutional " along its prome- 
nades. On soft summery moonlight nights, too, when the 
gentle zephyrs bring grateful coolness to the heated brow, 
what a delight it is to steal away from the glaring halls and 
the torrid ball-rooms of the thronged hotels, and wander 
up and down the wee hills and dales ! It is possible that 



58 SARATOGA. 

there may be gouty sires, or aged dowagers, or grim un- 
social bachelors, who may think this sort of thing all bosh ; 
but it won't do to say so to Damon and Chloe, as they glide 
along the shadiest walks — the shadiest even in moonlight — 
linked arm-in-arm, perchance hand-in-hand, drinking in 
from eye and lip deep draughts, sweeter to the taste and 
more stirring to the blood than all the carbonates of all the 
springs from one end of the mineral valley to the other. 



THE CHUECHES. 

Saratoga, with all its fun and fashion and its material 
enjoyments, is not without its share of serious life, any more 
than are graver and duller places ; as the church-spires, 
here and there, will testif}^ No one, whatever may chance 
to be his creed, need, from want of opportunity, neglect his 
religious devotions in the rush of worldly delights ; since 
the temple-doors are everywhere open to all sects and 
denominations, Jew or Gentile, Catholic or Protestant, 
High Church or Low Church, orthodox or heterodox, what- 
ever he may be. 

Some of the church edifices are elegant affairs ; quite 
worthy of the oblation of the most refined city congrega- 
tions, and ministered to by pastors of culture and repute. 

The Episcopal church, on Washington Street, is a mod- 
ern edifice of stone, most pleasing in its architecture, and 
suitable in all its interior adornments. A handsome contri- 
bution to the exchequer of the society was made recently 
through the medium of an amateur exhibition of tableaux 
vivants on the stage of the Leland Opera House. 



SARATOGA. 59 

The Presbyterian church is a fine brick edifice, of ample 
dimensions, pleasantly located some little distance up 
Broadway. The site, we believe, was presented by Heniy 
Walton, one of the early residents and benefactors of Sara- 
toga. Mr. Walton was a gentleman of great taste and 
enterprise, which he displayed in various contributions to 
the progress and embellishment of the place. Among other 
good works, he created the beautiful estate known as 
** Woodlawn," and built the pleasant residence of " Pine 
Grove," occupied by the venerable Chancellor Walworth. 

The Baptist church is on Washington Street, opposite the 
Episcopal church. The site was presented by the old 
pioneer Gideon Putnam, when he left the land to the first 
religious society which might be ready to occupy it. 

The Methodist church is also conveniently located among 
the other places of w^orship on Washington Street. 

The Catholic church occupies a commanding and most 
agreeable location upon Broadway, just above the Claren- 
don Hotel. 

COUNTRY-SEATS. 

The villa residences of Saratoga are numerous and 
attractive, though they do not make so marked a feature in 
the character of the place as at Newport. They may do 
so, however, by-and-by, as the high virtues of the climate 
come to be better appreciated, and as the means and appli- 
ances of luxurious life increase. The neighborhood, cer- 
tainly, offers great inducements for summer, if not perma- 
nent residence ; with its unusual facilities for country seclu- 
sion, within call of all the gayeties of city life. The bracing. 



60 SARATOGA. 

healthful atmosphere, the invaluable mineral waters, the 
varied social resources, the picturesque scenery, and the 
easy access, all combined, should certainly surround the 
Springs with a cordon of sumptuous villas and picturesque 
" boxes," unsurpassed by any locality in the land. 

To some people it may be, sometimes, too much of a 
good thing to live always in the hurly-burly of the great 
hotels ; but then to these even, a quiet private home, apart 
from and yet within immediate reach of the great world, 
seems to promise the desired juste milieu. 

It is not within the scope of our purpose here to make 
individual mention of the private homes of the village, but 
the visitor will not fail to see and enjoy them in his rides 
and walks through the neighborhood. 



THE SARATOGA RACES. 

Our village gives fair promise of soon becoming — even 
if it is not already — the head-centi'e of the sports of the 
tm"f in America. Its famous race-course, which lies one 
and a half mile out of town, and which was surveyed and 
laid out in 1803 by Charles H. Ballard, is the largest in the 
Union, not even excepting the great Fashion Course on 
Long Island, and the more modem Jerome Park in New 
York. It is a favorite resort of the leading " horse-men " of 
the land, and the best-blooded steeds are brought hither 
eveiy season for the display of their prowess in wind and 
limb. The great equine contests come off in July or Au- 
gust, when all the region runs mad with excitement, 
scarcely less infectious than that which may be seen at 



SARATOGA. 61 

Epsom, through the wild doings of a Derby-day. Eveiybody 
goes who has the good fortune to tind a carriage or a cart, 
a cab or a cob to cany them, or who is able to traverse the 
short distance on that universal self-acting vehicle, vul- 
garly known as Shank's mare. The programme of exer- 
cises offei's more than the usual variety to which the item 
of "running races" has been added within two or three 
years past. Of course it is a jolly occasion, and the inter- 
est, if not the betting, runs high. Such sports are always 
inspiriting, and at Sai-atoga they stir up the blood as effec- 
tually as the waters of the most highly charged of the min- 
eral springs. People who have had no experience in the 
matter beyond the sight of a run-away nag, may not " see 
the joke," but let such skeptics, even the most hardened, 
seat themselves amidst the brilliant crowd which gathers on 
the grand stand ; let them watch the eager and the exult- 
ant eyes of all around, at the approach of the impatient 
steeds, and see the thickening interest as they start on their 
course, an interest rising into breathless, almost painful in- 
tensity as the goal is neared, and if they fail to catch the 
general infection, then are they stoics indeed, who had bet- 
ter tuna hermits and eschew the weak humanities of this 
mortal world. 

There are many good people who would not, if they 
could, in any way enjoy the sports and pleasures of the turf, 
but, on the contrary, shun them and their allurements as 
snares of Satan and as roads to i-uin ; but why this should 
be so we cannot say, unless upon a general principle,, which 
might forbid the use of any goods which the gods provide, 
because, forsooth, they may be abused. It is tnie that the 
Race is a popular pastime, from which fact, and from the 
6 



62 SABATOGA. 

manner in which it has been and is often conducted, has 
acquired a vulgar repute. This, however, is purely an acci- 
dent, which may be easily corrected. The " betting-book," 
common to the excitement of the sport, may tempt to unjust 
gain or to unhappy loss of fortune. So indeed may, in a 
greater or less degree, all the chances of this chanceful 
world and its occupations. There are '* betting-books " in 
Wall Street, not little pocket-editions for occasional use, but 
great ponderous volumes, which are poured over with grave 
brows from mom to eve by the worthiest folk, and every 
merchant's ledger is, indeed, in its way, only a " betting- 
book." The turf may lead to dissipations, harmful to 
health and due sobriety— so, too, may any gentleman's 
well-spread mahogany ; or, may-be, a loss of precious time : 
but how much time is daily lost without reproof ! On the 
whole, is it not better and wiser and braver to manfully 
pluck the flowers which bestrew our path, rather than to 
deny ourselves their sweet fragrance, in fear of being stung 
by some intermingled thorn or nettle ? 

Certain it is that the gay sport grows in favor with the 
growth of the popular intelligence and refinement. It is 
gradually passing from the control of its former rude mas- 
ters into the hands of gentlemen of character and cultm'e. 
Day by day it is becoming an amusement more elegant 
and more fashionable, and fair ladies, in all their drawing- 
room grace and gorgeousness, now sanctify it with their 
eager presence. We know, indeed, some very excellent 
men, whom even the worldlings reverently call reverend, 
who handle the ribbons with a genuine zest, and who do 
not despise a hoi-se on account of his speed. 



SAEATOGA. 63 



SARATOGA LAKE. 

A ti'ip to " the Lake" would be a pictorial necessity to 
all Saratoga visitors, even if it were not, as it is, the termi- 
nus of the principal and most convenient " drive " from the 
village, and only some five miles away. 

It is a lovely water in eveiy aspect, not grand in its 
characteristics, to be sure, but replete with quiet and gentle 
beauty. It is, too, of very commanding proportions, hav- 
ing a liberal length of nine miles, and a breadth, in its widest 
division, of nearly five miles. Many and varied scenes of 
beauty occur within this broad range of water and shore. 
The boldest feature of the lake is the elevation to be seen 
on the right, and familiar to visitors as " Snake Hill." It 
may be reached by the little steamer which plies between 
the Lake House and the Sulphur Spring, or by foot across 
the long bridge, and thence by a romantic path, which 
winds along the shore on the crest of a line of cedar bluffs, 
upon one of which is a refreshment station, known as 
Meyer's Lake House. The piazzas of this hotel afford an 
agreeable view of the lake and its surroundings. 

It is said that there existed, once upon a time, a terrible 
lair of rattlesnakes, midway on the flank of the hill — hence 
its rather forbidding name. The visitor, however, may 
tiTidge fearlessly onward at this day, since St. Patrick seems 
to have given his careful attention to the region, and the 
snakes of old are now happily noji est. It is said that thene 
once dwelt on the hill an old fellow, whose profession it 
was to catch the varmints for public exposition and sale, 
and who at length was bitten by them and slain. But we 



64 SARATOGA. 

have heard of this " old fellow " on eveiy snake-hill or hol- 
low which we have ever visited, and also of his untimely 
and inevitable end. 

A more interesting, if not a more historically reliable 
reminiscence is an oft-quoted tradition, " scribed " to the 
poetry of the spot by that charming raconteur^ N. P. 
Willis. " There is," he says, " an Indian superstition at- 
tached to this lake, which probably has its source in its 
remarkable loneliness and tranquillity. The Mohawks 
believed that its stillness was sacred to the Great Spirit, 
and that if a human voice uttered a sound upon its waters, 
the canoe of the offender would instantly sink. A stoiy is 
told of an Englishwoman, in the early days of the first set- 
tlers, who had occasion to cross this lake with a party of 
Indians, who, before embarking, warned her most impres- 
sively of the spell. It was a silent, breathless day, and the 
canoe shot over the smooth surface of the lake like an 
arrow. About a mile from the shore, near the centre of 
the lake, the woman, willing to convince the savages of the 
weakness of their superstition, uttered a loud ciy. The 
countenances of the Indians fell instantly to the deep- 
est gloom. After a moment's pause, however, they re- 
doubled their exertions, and in frowning silence drove the 
light bark like an arrow over the waters. They reached 
the shore in safety, and drew up the canoe, and the woman 
rallied the chief on his credulity. ' The Great Spirit is 
mei'ciful,' answered the scornful Mohawk ; ' He knows 
that a white woman cannot hold her tongue.' " 

The lake is rich in material for piscatory sport. There 
was a time when it was famous for its supplies of trout ; 
and before the building of the mills at the entrance of Fish 



SAKATOGA. 65 

Creek (the outlet of the lake into the Hudson), shad and 
herring came up to try the water in the spring of the year. 
Although these fish are now to be seen no more at Sara- 
toga, there remain other varieties hardly less attractive to 
the fisherman and the gourmet. Among them are the perch, 
the pickerel, the muscalonge, and the black or Oswego bass. 
The best locality in which to look for perch is said to be 
the deep water opposite Snake Hill, where they are fre- 
quently taken of the agreeable weight of three and even of 
four pounds. For pickerel one should try the ground at 
the end of the lake just above Staff'ord's Bridge. Near the 
east end of the bridge boats and bait and lines may be pro- 
cured of" Uncle John" Tale, who makes it his occupation 
to supply these needs of the Saratoga Waltons. 

When your fish is caught, you may have it cooked in 
marvellous style, in the cuisines of the excellent hotel on 
the banks of the lake, known far and near as the Lake 
House, and administered by Mr. Moon, a landlord of high 
repute, especially in the concoction of those epicurean lux- 
uries — game-dinners. 



THE CEMETERY. 

A village cemetery is always an object Of as much inter- 
est to the stranger as to the resident, though from different 
feelings and different points of view. The one resorts to its 
quiet haunts to read over again the changeful chapters in 
his own past life, and to recall memories of absent mates 
and friends ; while the other finds there curious hints and 
histories of the character and story of the people among 
6* 



66 



SARATOGA. 



whom his interests and sympathies are, for the moment, 
cast. Then, too, these cells of the silent are, for the most 
part, provided and preserved with generous hand and 
thoughtful care, making them objects of attraction to the 
eye no less than to the heart. 




GLIMPSE EASTWARD FK03I THE CEMETERT. 



Our Saratoga cemetery is, it is true, not old enough to 
have gathered within its pale many records, and few of 
that striking individuality of character often to be read on 



SARATOGA. 67 

ancient and lichen-covered tombs ; yet it has its tale of 
love and sorrow, and its annals of good and noble lives, 
which do honor to those who are left and to the region 
where they dwell. Besides what the stranger may learn in 
the village cemetery of Saratoga, of the character of the 
place — from the records he will see there of the names and 
deeds of her departed sons and daughters — he will find 
much satisfaction and pleasure in wandering through the 
well-ordered walks which ti'averse in all directions the 
slopes of the picturesque acres, piously devoted here to the 
memoiy of the departed ones ; and in looking abroad from 
the more lofty portions of the ground, at the glimpses 
afforded here and there of the far-reaching meadows and 
the distant hills. 

WAGMAN'S HILL. 

About three miles beyond Chapman's Hill, in a general 
northeast course, lies the yet loftier elevation called Wag- 
man's Hill. It offers a charming view in all directions. 
The western picture is made up of the blue ranges of the 
Kayaderosseras, and the inteiTening table-lands, dotted 
eveiywhere with fruitful farms and happy homesteads. 
In the remoter north are the yet loftier peaks of the great 
Adirondack range ; eastward may be seen the green hills 
of old Vei-mont, and far in the south stretch the Helderberg 
and the Catskill cliffs. In the intervening plains may be 
watched the windings of the Hudson, just started ou its 
great journey to the sea ; and the small but not less lovely 
waters of the Mohawk, of the Kayaderosseras and Fish 
Creek, and many other streams and lakes and ponds of 



68 SABATOGA. 

exquisite beauty, as thus seen gleaming and gloaming far 
off in the sunlight and shade of a soft summer eve. 

Wagman's Hill is not more than seven miles from Sara- 
toga, and presents a motive for a moderate excursion, either 
to commence or to close the day ; or it may be put in as a 
postscript, and taken pleasantly by moonlight. The return 
trip may be made by Stafford's Bridge and Avery's Lake 
House. 

CHAPMAN'S HILL. 

If the visitor should be at the Lake, and disposed to 
continue his drive, rather than to amuse himself in angling, 
rowing, or sailing, or in enjoying Mr. Moon's eminent hos- 
pitality, he may turn his horses' heads across the bridge, 
and, after following the shore for a mile or more, turn up- 
wards to the left, when he will soon find himself high up 
on the eminence known as Chapman's Hill, Here he will 
stand one hundred and eight feet above the level of the 
lake, and gaze abroad upon a panorama well worth the 
seeing. Directly below sleep the peaceful w^atei*s, stretch- 
ing their mirrowing surface over an area of twenty square 
miles. Looking westward, the lake shore is seen to ascend 
boldly to the reach of table-land above. This table-land 
spreads back a dozen miles to the base of the Kayaderos- 
seras Mountains, and the mountains continue the view in 
fresh and varying beauties, their lofty flanks contrasting 
gratefully with the intervening meadows, fallow, and 
farms. The Kayaderosseras Hills rise some two thousand 
feet above the level of tide-water, and extend over a long 
range of fiftj^ or sixty miles. When life at the Springs 



SARATOGA. 69 

grows weary, renew it by a peep at such inspiriting scenes 
as this and other neighboring localities aiford. 

BARHYDT'S LAKE. 

There is a little tarn in the grounds of Dr. Russell 
Childs, who lives in a pretty Italian villa upon its banks. 
In former days and before it fell into the possession of its 
present occupant, it was a place of popular resort, espe- 
cially by tourists in quest of piscatorial exercise. Then, 
there was a tavern by the shore, where dwelt Mynheer 
Barhydt, a Dutchman of the most legitimate and most 
stolid stock. This most worthy Boniface equipped his 
guest with boats and bait, and whether he were successful 
or not in his sport, provided him a board bounteously 
spread with dainty and luscious trout. 



LAKE LOVELY. 

Not a great distance from the village, and accessible by 
way of Union Avenue, — a broad carriage-road, opened dur- 
ing the year 1866, — is an interesting sheet of water, bearing 
the euphonious name of Lake Lovely. Though not of very 
great extent, it has many points of considerable attraction, 
in its bold hilly shores, overrun with tangled shrubs and 
crowned with ancient hemlock of loftiest stature. In one 
of the deep glens about the lake, nearly opposite Al:)ers 
Lake House, the visitor may " call on Echo," and be an- 
swered in Echo's softest and most musical strains. 



70 SAEATOGA. 



SCHUYLEKVILLE. 

At the point where Fish Creek, the outlet of Saratoga 
Lake, enters the Hudson, is the village of Schuylerville : 
a pleasant place, in the heart of a very interesting region. 
It was once the residence of General Schuyler, of Rev- 
olutiouaiy memory, and was named in his honor. 

Schuyler's homestead and all its appurtenances were 
destroyed by the enemy, under Burgoyne, in 1777. The 
memorable locality where the British commander surren- 
dered his conquered sword to General Gates, is said to be 
only a little way to the northward of the site of the old 
Schuyler mansion. 

The veteran must surely have found some consolation 
for his private loss, as he wandered from the ashes of his 
homestead to the adjoining grounds, so interesting and im- 
portant in his country's history. 

General Schuyler contributed much to the settlement 
and gi-owth of Saratoga. In 1783 he opened a road thither 
from his own home at the mouth of Fish Creek, and, pitch- 
ing his tent in the forest, remained there with his family 
during some weeks, hunting the game in the woods and 
drinking the water from the springs. The following year 
(1784) he erected a small frame-house — the first one ever 
built in the village, and which he occupied every summer 
during the rest of his life. The neighborhood should not 
be overlooked, as few localities in the land awaken associa- 
tions of such thrilling interest in the hearts of all who de- 
light in musing upon the by-gone trials and triumphs of 
their native land. 



SAKATOGA. 71 



BALLSTON SPRINGS. 

Ballston, once renowned for its mineral fountains — more 
so even than Saratoga itself— lies upon the railway route, 
seven miles distant, and is passed on the approach to Sara- 
toga from Albany to Schenectady. It is situated in pleas- 
ant valley-land upon each side of a small tributary of the 
Kayaderosseras Creek. 

The mineral waters of Ballston were known earlier than 
those of Saratoga ; and when Sir William Johnson visited 
the High Rock, he went via Ballston, and was accompa- 
nied by Michael McDonald, who had settled there in 1768. 

The township of Ballston was organized in 1788, and 
was incorporated in 1807. It is at this time the county- 
seat of Saratoga, and thus adds to its other attractions the 
possession of the public buildings of the region. 

A log-house was erected for the accommodation of 
guests at Ballston, in 1772, which was enlarged and im- 
proved in 1790, when, the war being over, the suspended 
business of the settlement began to be renewed. 

The first modern monster-house was erected by Nicholas 
Low, in 1804. This house was the present Sans-Souci^ 
now three stories in height, with a length of one hundi'ed 
and sixty feet, and wings of one hundred and fifty. 

For a long time the mineral waters of Ballston were held 
in high repute, and the village grew and prospered. Soon, 
however, the Saratoga star began to rise above it. The 
Ballston waters proved difficult to secure, owing to the 
peculiar character of the substratum which underlies the 
region, and the place lost its prestige. 



72 SAKATOGA. 

The most approved fountains at Ballston are the United 
States, the Fulton Chalybeate Spring, the Franklin Sulphur, 
and the Low Well, the waters of which are still used with 
success, though they have ceased to be bottled, as they once 
were. The quantity of gas in these springs and the manner 
of its escape is said to vary very much — sometimes rising in 
great force, and sometimes passing off in small particles only. 
On one occasion, but for a short time only, the gas rose in 
such force and quantity as to produce a jet several feet in 
height. 

There are yet many who delight in Ballston as a sum- 
mer-home, and in its waters as remedial agents. The Sara- 
toga guest will find the village an agreeable place to visit, 
going by the rail, or making it the goal of an afternoon's 
ride. The neighboring brooks and ponds and the pleasant 
country all about are well worth exploring. The village 
was named in honor of the Rev. Eliphalet Ball, who estab- 
lished himself, at an early day, some two miles and a half 
to the southward. 

LUZERNE. 

Luzerne is a pretty hamlet, lying within reach of the 
lower spurs of the Adirondack, at the confluence of the 
Upper Hudson with the Sacandaga. It is in the neighbor- 
hood of Corinth Falls, and may be reached by the Saratoga 
and Lake Ontario Railway, though of course no pleasure- 
seeking tourist will approach it by that prosaic means. 

The vicinity of Luzerne is famous as a hunting and fish- 
ing ground. Trout and pickerel abound, and partridge and 
woodcock are to be had for fair asking. When the game 



SARATOGA. 73 

is bagged, the hospitable landlord, Mr. Rockwell, will see 
to it that it is served as such dainties should be served, 
and as only landlords themselves experts in the gentle 
sports of field and flood know how to do it. 

Among the landscape incidents of the region is a singu- 
lar-looking cone, known as Potash Kettle, which rises 
boldly in the foreground of a mountain picture. The Hud- 
son may be seen here, wildly rusliing over rocky ledges in 
its hurried race to join the scarcely less turbulent waters of 
the Sacandaga a little way below. 

The jagged shores of the river are united by a well- 
conditioned bridge, and the waters are utilized for saw-mill 
industiy. 

STILES' HILL, 

Stiles' Hill may be reached in a drive of a few miles 
along the base of the Palmerton Mountain. In the vicinity 
of the locality known as Eli Stiles', a remarkably interest- 
ing panorama may be obtained — a panorama revealing the 
varied landscape for sixty miles to the south, following the 
gliding course of the Hudson and the Mohawk rivers. To 
the eastward there may be seen the mountain ranges on the 
borders of the Connecticut Valley, and northward the green 
hills of Vermont stretch away through many a mile of peak 
and pass, beyond the verdant and fertile plains which lie 
along the shores of Lake Champlain. 

To the intelligent obseiwer the country around will re- 
call, also, many a thrilling recollection of historic story and 
romance ; for it is, to those who know it, all hallowed 
ground. 

7 



74 SARATOGA. 



WARING HILL. 

Taking the road towards Mount Pleasant, the tourist 
may, after a ride of sixteen miles, find himself on the crest 
of Waring Hill, a point two thousand feet above tide-water 
and overtopping all the other highlands around. 

It is a good specific for dyspepsia, bile, or blues to bear 
the forehead to the fresh airs of these high latitudes, diy 
and pure, and sparkling with electric life. Put aside your 
" yellow covers," and thnist from your brain all memory of 
their maudlin dreams, O gauzy guest ! and shake yourself 
into life with a spanking course over their wide-awake and 
health-giving reaches of valley and hill. Be assured that it 
will do you good, body and soul, and give you a truer no- 
tion of the relative values of niches, ribbons, waterfalls, and 
Empress trails. 

From Waring Hill the spectator will look down upon 
the villages of Saratoga, Ballston, Mechanicsville, Schuyler- 
ville, Schenectady, and Waterford, with many other less 
important hamlets and settlements, all intei*spersed and 
enlivened by the gleam of sunny waters. Saratoga Lake 
spreads its broad surface to the gaze ; Ballston Lake also, 
and Round Lake, Owl Point, the winding ways of Fish 
Creek, and of the Kayaderosseras ; and over and above all, 
the great Hudson, in all its course from the Sacandaga to 
the labyrinths of the distant Catskills. 

HAGGERTY HILL. 

Haggerty Hill is a fine eminence of about eight hundred 
feet above tide-water, half a mile west of Greenfield Centre. 



SAKATOGA. 75 

It is six miles north of Saratoga by the plankroad leading- 
to Luzerne, on the Hudson. 

Returning, it will be pleasant to take the road east,, 
through Greenville Centre, crossing " Meeting House Hill," 
St. John's Comers, and thence, by the right-hand road,, 
over the Hewit and the Westcott hills. This itineraiy wilL 
afford a veiy delightful ride through broad meadow-lands,, 
watered by pretty brooks and studded with thiifty fanns, 
The hill-points on the route will give the tourist the same 
fine distant mountain-passages, with more or less variation, 
which are to be had from other elevations around Saratoga. 
The glimpse eastward, bounded by the shadowy ranges of 
the Green Mountains, is remarkably attractive. But ride 
whither one may, hereabouts he cannot fail to enjoy the 
exercise, if the weather be fine, the roads in fair order, and 
the heart tuned to the melodious voices of the smiling 
scenes around him ; for after all, it is veiy true what poor 
Slingsby says, " that no sky is blue, no leaf is verdant — it is- 
the heart alone that has the azure and the green." So, good 
reader, be careful to ride forth always with a clear con- 
science void of all offence, if in your musings with fair 
nature you would hear her *' voice of gladness," feel " her 
smile and eloquence of beauty," and be blessed by her 
" mild and gentle sympathy." 



CORINTH FALLS. 

The cataract known as Coiinth Falls is a bold passage; 
in the Upper Hudson, some fifteen miles north of Saratoga 
and one mile from the old Jessup's Landing. A long line 



76 SAEATOGA. 

of rapids gives admonition of the impending crash of waters, 
l^rhen the lately placid stream, as if preparing for the crisis 
"before it, gathers itself into the naiTow limits of fifty feet 
space or less, and then i-ushes headlong down through a 
gorge of one hundred and fifty feet. Reaching the goal, the 
floods spread forth again as if to draw breath before then* 
next and final plunge, over a dark precipice of sixty feet. 
It is a noble sight even now, when the detracting hand of 
modern improvement has in some measure robbed it of its 
coriginal beauty. 

The falls may be seen to advantage from the Luzerne 
rside of the river, by crossing at the landing and climbing to 
the crest of the bluff, which stands a hundred feet or more 
above. The village, at the old Jessup Landing, will afford 
all reasonable ways and means for that recuperation of the 
physical forces which is required occasionally even by vis- 
itors of the highest poetical natures. Roaiing cataracts and 
gurgling brooks are each and at all times extremely enjoy- 
able ; but the adjuncts of an appetizing sandwich and of a 
wee drop of bourbon, say, rarely, if ever, lessen their effect 
upon the imagination. 



THE SARATOGA BATTLE-GROUND AT BEMIS 
HEIGHTS. 

A visit to the scene of the great battle of Saratoga, 
which ended in the suiTender of the British anny under 
General Burgoyne to the Americans under Gates, will 
occupy a pleasant though a somewhat long day's excur- 



SAKATOGA. 77 

sion ; or the spot may be reached sooner fi'om the Springs 
by the aid of the railway tending thither. 

The battle was fought and won upon the elevated lands 
at Bemis Heights, two and a half miles from the Hudson, in 
the town of Stillwater, in Saratoga County. The visitor 
may obtain all desired information respecting the precise 
localities of the struggle from residents and cicerones on 
the grounds. At the time of the eventful Battle of Sara- 
toga the American troops were in high feather at their 
successes in the defeat of St. Leger and at Stark's brilliant 
performance at Bennington, which had occurred during the 
latter part of the preceding month. The enemy's forces in 
the neighborhood were believed to be in a bad way gener- 
ally, and all parties were ignorant of the British progress on 
the Hudson below and yet further south. Troops poured 
in from all quartei-s, and General Gates was in good tiim 
for the work which soon fell to him. 

As an illustration of how chance seems to rule in war, 
there is recorded a story, which, with a different sequel, 
might have entirely altered the relative fortunes of Bur- 
goyne and Gates at that time. Clinton, the English com- 
mander on the Hudson, had despatched a messenger to 
Burgoyne, announcing his success and promising him re- 
lief; which message, had it but safely reached its destination, 
might have led to an avoidance of the fatal rencontre into 
which the English genei-al was led at Saratoga. The mes- 
sage contained the brief words, " twus y voic% and nothing 
between us but Gates." It was enclosed in a silver bullet. 

The messenger fell in with a squad of American troops, 
whom he unluckily mistook for friends, as they chanced 
just then to be arrayed in red coats, recently captured from 
7* 



78 SARATOGA. 

an English storeship. He incautiously divulged his errand, 
when he discovered his sad mistake, and Burgoyne lost his 
saving message and the Battle of Saratoga. 

The happy position of the American army on the 
Heights was chosen by the Polish ally Kosciusko, who 
served informally as chief engineer on the occasion. It 
may be curious also to recall the fact, as we stroll over the 
once gory ground, that much of the success of the day was 
owing to the impetuous ardor and daring braveiy of the 
veiy Arnold who, at a later day, so wofully marred his 
patiiotic record at West Point. So highly did Washington 
esteem Arnold's services at that time, that he bestowed upon 
him, with other marks of consideration, one of three sets 
of military ornaments which had been sent to him by some 
person in France, " for the First of American captains, and 
the two chieftains he might consider worthy to share the 
compliment with him." 

The great struggle occurred on the afternoon of the 7th 
of October, 1777. Burg03Tie was observed to be moving 
his troops, with an evident inclination to work, should the 
opportunity offer; when Gates, in his turn, detennined 
" to indulge him," and gave order " to begin the game." 
Colonel Morgan was at once despatched towards the British 
right, while Poor was ordered to look after his left. Both 
officers executed their commissions so effectually that, in 
exactly fifty-two minutes after the first shot was fired, the 
enemy beat a retreat, leaving behind two twelve and six 
six-pounders, with the loss of more than four hundred 
officers and men, killed, wounded, and captm-ed, among 
whom were General Frazer, Major Ackland, and Sir 
Francis Cook. 



\ 



SAKATOGA. 79 

Scarcely had the enemy re-entered his lines, when he 
was followed by General Arnold and Colonel Brooks in a 
furious assault upon his entire works from right to left, witli 
such effect, that when the night put a stop to the contest, 
Burgoyne was glad of the opportunity to withdraw to a 
stronger position on the heights and nearer to the river, 
where he might avoid another engagement with the foe, 
who already possessed parts of his works, and was evi- 
dently ready to renew the attack with the retmiiing 
light. 

Thus ended the important action on Bemis Heights, 
though it was not until some time later that Burgoyne, 
di'iven to his last resource, and finding his position utterly 
desperate, laid down his arms and surrendered to his vic- 
torious foe. 

After the decisive victoiy of the glorious 7th of October 
the spirits of the American troops rose high, and Gates 
threw heavy detachments higher up the river to oppose the 
retreat of the enemy. No attack was made ; but neverthe- 
less Burgoyne was compelled to abandon his strong post. 
He retreated on the night of the 10th October towards Sara- 
toga, with the loss of his hospital and a part of his baggage 
and stores. Taking a new position on the Hudson, he 
again found himself beset by his antagonist, who was 
already on the opposite side, ready to dispute his passage.. 
The British anny was now surrounded by a numerically 
superior force, which was constantly increasing, and was 
flushed with success. Burgoyne's gallant array of eight 
thousand men had been reduced to three thousand five 
hundi-ed, and his provisions were nearly exhausted. Thus 
circumstanced, and being smTounded by a force four times 



80 SAKATOGA. 

jis great as his own, and with every avenue of escape closed 
against him, he was obliged to open a treaty with Gates, 
which terminated in the formal surrender of the remnant 
of his army. 

The spot where the defeated commander gave up his 
sword, and which is called the " Surrender Ground," is a 
few miles further up the river than the battle-field. 



BAKER'S FALLS. 

These fine cascades are in the Hudson River, about four 
miles below Glen's Falls. The waters here make a descent 
of about seventy feet in one hundi'ed rods, falling in a series 
of bold rapids, and at intervals in little pictm'esque and per- 
pendicular leaps down rugged glens. 

The spot may be conveniently visited in connection with 
Glen's Falls, in the river above, and may be reached from 
Saratoga by railway fifteen miles to Moreau Station, and 
hence by an agreeable stage-ride over pleasant hills and 
dales. 

GLEN'S FALLS. 

This remarkable passage in the waters of the Upper 
IBEudson is about twenty miles northeast of Saratoga and on 
the route from the Springs to Lake George. It is a spot of 
•great attraction, from its historical and poetical associations 
no less than for its natural beauty. 

Here the river, but now so gentle and peaceful in its 
•course, makes through a ravine of bold jagged rock of some 



SARATOGA. 81 

nine hundred feet in length. Looking at the broad stately- 
floods of the Hudson, nearer to the sea, one would hardly 
suspect it of being capable of such mad tantrums as it is 
led into by the tortuous crags which it here encounters. 
But this is the period of its youth, when it may be allowed 
to sow a few wild-oats. In its native aspect, before the 
hand of civilization robbed the wilderness of its trees, and 
replaced them with factory and mill, this must have been 
a wild, even a weird spot. The volume and the impetuous 
rush of the waters over the rude rocks is still a grand sight, 
despite the many materials of industry which obtrude them- 
selves upon the eye, and which seem to be vainly striving 
to turn poetiy into prose. 

The spot still possessed all its primeval wilderness in 
the warlike days of the French and Indian incursions ; and 
no fabrics of human art were to be seen there at the later 
period of the Revolution, excepting a military blockhouse 
here and there, or occasionally a more pretentious defence, 
dignified with the high-sounding name of fort. 

The rushing floods were not degraded to the ignoble 
work of turning mills, and the marble clifl*s were all un- 
quarried, when ** The Last of the Mohicans " stole with 
stealthy step through the wild ravines, and Cooper's gentle 
heroines, fair Alice and Cora Mimroe, were sheltered there 
from the search of their treacherous foes. 

It was in this neighborhood that the unfortunate Jenny 
McCrea was murdered by the Indians, allies of the British 
duiing the Revolution. She dwelt at the time in the lone 
house of an old Scotch widow, and on the night of the 
murder was unprotected save by the companionship of an 
old negro woman. In the apprehension of danger, a guard 



82, SAEATOGA. 

had been placed in the vicinity, but, by an odd chance, this 
very protection proved the poor maid's ruin. According to 
the stoiy, the murdering red-men had been sent to bring 
her away to a place of greater secm-ity by a youth to whom 
she was about to be married. On their way the messengei-s 
were beset by the guard, whom they dispersed or de- 
spatched, and then afterwards falling into a dispute as to 
the division of the whiskey which had been promised them 
in reward for their good services in bringing away the hap- 
less girl, killed her as the readiest way of settling the quar- 
rel. Thus, by such slight mischance was Jane McCrea 
changed from a poor ignorant countiy gui into a deathless 
heroine of romance. 

LAKE GEORGE. 

As the Saratoga guest will of course avail himself of his 
proximity to Lake George, to visit that most beautiful re- 
sort, it is proper that we should say, in brief, what he may 
and what he should see there. The trip from the Spiings 
to the Lake and back, may be done pleasantly in a couple 
of days, if no more time should be at command ; and a 
more agreeable diversion cannot be imagined. Besides, 
Lake George must be seen, even at a sacrifice of conve- 
nience, being as it is the most charming place of its kind in 
America, if indeed it is to be surpassed anywhere in the 
wide world. 

The distance from the Spiings to the Lake is about 
thirty miles, fifteen of which will be ti-avelled by rail to 
Moreau Station, and the rest by stage over a fine plankroad 
and through a very pleasant countiy. 







''^'f!]|fc,V>||j|'filif 'if! 






SARATOGA. 83 

When within nine miles of the Lake the tourist will 
reach the village of Glen's Falls, where he may see the 
grand cataracts of the Upper Hudson, which we have de- 
scribed upon another page. 

Five miles yet nearer his point of destination, he will 
pass, on the immediate road-side, the interesting historical 
ground known as the Bloody Pond. Here Colonel Wil- 
liams was slain in an unfortunate encounter with the 
French and Indians, on the 8th of September, 1755. The 
victims of the disaster were rudely buried beneath the slimy 
waters of the pond. The ancient boulder close by is called 
Williams' Rock. 

The first view of the Lake as we approach in this direc- 
tion is surpassingly beautiful, much of the wide expanse of 
water coming suddenly upon the sight as we reach the crest 
of the bordering hills. From this point the descent to the 
shore is rapid ; reaching which, we may halt at the village 
of Caldwell, or, as most people will prefer to do, continue 
half a mile further around the beach, to the right, and find 
ourselves happily at home in the elegant halls of the Fort 
William Henry Hotel, as pleasant a resting-place as may 
be found the a)untry through. 

Lake Geo^ is, from the head or southern extremity at 
Caldwell, to the foot or northern end, at the village of 
Ticonderoga, about thirty-six miles long, and may be trav- 
ersed in the pretty steamers which ply the waters daily to 
and fro. Should the weather be propitious, nothing more 
delightful could be desired than this little voyage up and 
down the lovely waters, with their bold and ever-changing 
mountain shores, their innumerable islands, and their vol- 
umes of thrilling historic remembrances. 



84 SARATOGA. 

Fort William Henry Hotel stands upon hallowed gi-ound, 
the site being that of old defences of the period of the 
French and Indian War. Near by, also, are the ruins of 
Fort George, which was a work of interest and importance 
in its day. 

The fauy voyage is scarcely begun before we pass 
Diamond Island, which fronts Dunham Bay. It was here 
that Burgoyne, in 1777, established a militaiy depot, and 
had a skirmish with the American troops. 

To the north of Diamond Isle lies Long Island, in front 
of Long Point, which makes into the Lake from the east. 
Between the north side of this point and the mountains is 
Han-is Bay, where Montcahn moored his boats and landed 
in 1767. % 

DOME ISLAITD 

lies midway between the shore, about twelve miles above 
Caldwell. It was a temporary shelter for Putnam and his 
party on their eiTand to General Webb, with advice of the 
movements of the enemy at the mouth di the Northwest 
Bay. \ 

BOLTON 

is a steamboat-landing in this neighborhood, which is one 
of the finest parts of the Lake. An excellent hotel will be 
found at Bolton, anil a small hamlet lies at'-a little distance 
from the landing. The neighborhood is a favorite head- 
quarters for visitors who delight themselves in the sports 
of the angle, and many fine trout are still to be found here- v 
abouts. \ 



SAKATOGA. 85 



THE TONGUE MOUNTAIN 

steps with its bold stiide southward into the waters, in the 
neighborhood of Bolton, fonning the Northwest Bay on one 
side, and the main passage of the Lake, called the Narrows, 
on the other. The Tongue is a very picturesque mountain- 
ridge, and goes a great way in forming the natural beauties 
of the Lake, dropping in as it does so admirably in many 
of its most striking views. It is not long since the deer was 
successfully hunted here, and the game may yet be found 
with industrious search. 

SHELVING ROCK. 

On the east side of the Lake and at the southern enti*anco 
to the Narrows is a semi-circular hill, faced with bold pali- 
sade cliffs. At the base of these rocks rattlesnakes once 
abounded, and may yet be found, if the chase should be 
interesting. 

The widest part of the Lake is hereabouts ; the distance 
from shore to shore at Bolton being from three to four 
miles as compared with the average breadth of two miles. 
The most beautiful of the many islands lie within this 
magic circle, and prominent among them is that curiously- 
shaped spot known as Ship Island. 

THE NARROWS 

is the contracted passage of the Lake from the bay at the 
lower point of the Tongue Mountain to the wider waters 
8 



86 SARATOGA. 

around Sabbath-Day Point above. The hills here rise in 
magnificent proportions, and present stining pictures 
scarcely less bold than the transit of the Hudson thi'ough 
the gorges of the Highlands. 

THE BLACK MOIINTAIN, 

lying on the east side of the Lake in its passage through 
the NaiTows, and dividuig it from the lower waters of Lake 
Champlain, is the loftiest of the mountain peaks, with its 
elevation of twenty-two hundred feet. It is stately and 
massive in form and extent, and of fine contour, artistically 
viewed, being indeed the chiefest pictorial incident of the 
Lake. It is itself an admirable passage in many of the pic- 
tm*es to be seen from the waters and shores, while from its 
rocky crown magnificent views may be obtained of the 
entire expanse of the Lake and of the country for many 
miles around. At the base of the mountain on the east lie 
the waters of Champlain, and beyond, the Vermont hills, 
marshalled by the lofty peaks of Mansfield and the Camel's 
Hump. Upon the south is the French Mountain. Lying 
back from the Lake and northward, with many an inter- 
vening valley and hill, are the grand peaks and ridges of 
the Adirondack. 

It is rarely that a panoramic view is so extended and at 
the same time so varied in incident as that which may be 
seen from the crest of Black Mountain, and yet very few 
tomists venture upon the toil of making the somewhat 
rugged ascent. The enteiprise, however, would scarcely 
fail to make an acceptable contrast to the quieter life on the 
peaceful shores and watera below. 



SARATOGA. 87 



SABBATH-DAY POINT 

is approached as our steamer emerges from the northern 
end of the passage of the Narrows. The " Pomt" is formed 
by a sunny little stretch of meadow and pebbly beach, 
which hereabouts steps gently into the Lake, in pleasant 
conti-ast with the bolder rocky shores around it. 

Sabbath-Day Point was named by General Abercrom- 
bie, in memoiy of his departure thence (on a Sunday morn- 
ing), on his way to attack the French at Fort Ticonderoga 
above. The spot was the scene of a skirmish, in 1756, be- 
tween the colonists and a party of French and Indians ; 
when the latter, though much the superior force, were 
diiven from the ground with very considerable loss. 

A battle also occurred here in 1776, between a party of 
American militia and a force of Indians and Tories, in 
which the latter were repulsed with some forty or more of 
their number killed or wounded. 

The Lake widens into a spacious bay above the Nar- 
rows, which is shut in on the north by the rocky barriers 
of Rogers' Slide and Anthony's Nose. On the west shore 
of the bay the road winds along through shady groves 
past Gai"field's old hotel, where there is a steamboat land- 
ing and an agreeable place of sojomn — a place, at one 
period, of very fashionable resort. 

Rogers' Slide is a ragged promontory, four hundred feet 
in height, which steps into the Lake face to face with 
Anthony's Nose, the two headlands approaching each other 
so nearly as to leave but a comparatively naiTOw passage 
for the waters of the bay below to that above. The pass 



88 SAEATOGA. 

thus formed makes a bold and pleasing picture, and is a 
favorite subject of the pencil. Rogers' Slide is, for the 
most part, a precipitous wall of nigged rock, adorned here 
and there with a shmb or two, and crowned with a scant 
coveiing of bushes and trees. 

The tradition which accounts for the origin of the name 
of Roger's Slide is doubtless familiar enough to the reader ; 
as how its gallant godfather, being once upon a time pur- 
sued to the brink of the precipice by the Indians, made his 
escape, as they supposed, by fearlessly sliding down the 
face of the granite cliff! Perhaps he did, for nobody 
knows, and perhaps he knew the spot well enough to de- 
scend with more safety if with less romance. 

prisoners' island 

is two miles above the pass of the Slide. This spot was a 
prison station of the English at the period of the Colonial 
War with the French and Indians. The lake-shore here 
loses its bold aspect, and drops down into gentle verdant 
slopes. The water, too, which in some parts is veiy deep, 
grows so shallow as everywhere to show the pebbles and 
sand beneath. This last feature was a blessing in the olden 
time to the captives on Prisoners' Island, as it often permit- 
ted them to evade the eyes of their offlcera and wade 
ashore. 

Howe's Landing is west of Prisonei*s' Island. At this 
point there once debarked a flotilla, the like of which will 
never probably be again seen on the marge of these placid 
waters, even should the spot again become the gathering- 
point ot contending armies. 



SARATOGA. 89 

Near by where Howe landed in years gone by, the tour- 
ist, at the present day, will also land ; and, stepping into 
the waiting stage, will begin his overland tiip of about four 
miles to the old fort. 



TICONDEROGA, 

or " Tye," as it is familiarly named in the vicinity, is a little 
village at the north end or foot of Lake George, on the 
stream which bears the waters of Horicon to those of Lake 
Champlain. It is a picturesque brook, this outlet of the Lake, 
full of charming bits of rapid and waterfall, and at its con- 
fluence with Champlain are the famous ruins of Ticonde- 
roga — iTiins unsurpassed in the wide Union for romantic 
eflfect, both in themselves and in the beauty of the spot 
which they adorn. 

Veiy much of the old militaiy wall is yet standing, 
enough indeed to show fully the extent and design. Seen 
by moonlight, with the waters of old Champlain and 
the bordering mountains in the mysterious background 
these venerable ruins are as suggestive as any castle crags 
on the poetic Rhine. Just below the old fort and on oppo- 
site shores of the Lake, are Mount Defiance and Moimt 
Independence. 

Ticonderoga was erected by the French in 1756, and 
was then called Fort Carrillon. It was naturally a place 
of great sti-ength, being surrounded on three sides by water 
and the rear protected by an impassable swamp. Un- 
luckily, however. General Burgoyne found a means of 
overcoming these considerable advantages by placing his 
8* 



90 SAEATOGA. 

guns upon the pinnacle of Mount Defiance, on the south 
side of the Lake George outlet and seven hundred and fifty 
feet above, from whence he sent his shot with ease and 
provoking certainty into the midst of the unsuspecting 
garrison. 

Every one is familiar enough with the anecdote accom- 
panying the capture of this work by the American troops 
imder Ethan Allen,' at the opening of the Revolutionaiy 
War ; when Allen and his Green Mountain Boys surprised 
the commandant one fine night, and arousing him from his 
peaceful di-eams, demanded the surrender of the place 
" in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental 
Congress ! " 

From Ticonderoga the traveller may return to Saratoga 
through Lake George, or he may step on board one of the 
Champlain steamers, in their daily calls at the fort, and 
sail down the Lake to Whitehall, and thence speedily back 
to the Springs by rail. 

Before we leave the neighborhood, it behooves us to 
speak of the pleasures to be found on the waters of Lake 
George, in the manly and romantic exercises of boating and 
fishing. For these delightful sports the means and appli- 
ances are ample. 

Nothing can be pleasanter on a fine fresh summer-day, 
or on a soft zephyrous moonlight night, than to pull at 
will over the pellucid waters, landing here and there, as 
the beauty of the scene may tempt, upon the rocky or the 
pebbly shore or amidst the verdure of the countless islands. 
Neither can any amusement better please those who like 
it than the di'opping of the treacherous line, and the rewarci 
it seldom fails to 3'ield of glorious prize of trout or bass. 



SARATOGA. 91 

Lake George was poetically named, in the Indian 
tongue, Horicon, or the Lake of the Silvery Waters ; and 
by the English it was, from the singular pmity of the 
floods, sometimes called Lake Sacrament. 



THE END. 



HK196-78 







\r '^\ 






■*t...< 



-^^.< 












^ ^ ^y 




(l^^iK.N. MANCHESTER, 
'■^•^ INDIANA 







LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 224 467 6 



